Divide
by sloangrey
Summary: April Kepner doesn't know why, but she's made the terrible agreement to a vacation with not only her best friend, but her best friend's boyfriend. She thinks she'll be spending the next two and a half weeks in Europe with her face buried in her beloved notebook. She's mistaken. Sorely. AU.
1. Miracles

**Hi there friends! It is I, back again with a story that a grand total of negative four people asked for. I blame Melissa and the rest of the Japril group chat for this one, really, because this was supposed to be an entirely different thing altogether and I wasn't really going to post anything Japril multi-chapter wise until I had at least one of my three trillion fics in progress finished. But, here we are anyways, and I'm writing this thing whether my logical side says it's a good idea or not. Fair warning, this is absolutely _nothing_ like my other GA multichapter, this will provide you with plenty of fluff and not nearly as much angst. Which right now, I need, because Japril IRL is crushing my soul. I own nothing, regrettably, and reviews make my world go 'round.**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

 _"Where I'm heading who knows; my heart will stay the same."_ _—_ ** _Eraser, Ed Sheeran_**

Any time that Lexie had good news, April knew it was probably best that she brace herself for the worst. It wasn't her best friend's fault that she had a terrible, _terrible_ habit of jinxing most things. Lexie had the worst luck out of anyone and everyone that April knew. The girl could never catch a break; having survived a nasty car accident, ruptured appendix, a semi-plane crash, and exes with surprise kids lurking off in the dark corners waiting to ambush at exactly the worst time imaginable, April was stunned she'd managed to evade being struck by lightning. Or death itself.

So when Lexie came bursting through the door to their apartment, grin stretched over her face so wide that it threatened to split her lips, April had half the mind to go ahead and dial emergency services for when the inevitable came knocking.

"Kepner, are you sitting down?" Lexie asked excitedly as she kicked her shoes off at the door and letting them forcefully collide with the baseboards. The answer was painfully obvious, seeing as how April was right in her line of sight, being perched on the couch with both her legs folded under her. Her eyes met Lexie's, eyebrows furrowed together as she gestured towards herself.

"Are you blind, Grey?"

Lexie rolled her eyes. "It was a rhetorical question; I'm trying to brace you for my news."

"Wait, you aren't pregnant, are you?" April asked hesitantly as Lexie bounded down the hallway towards the living room, flinging herself over the armrest of the couch to sidle up right next to April. Lexie's face fell, shoulders relaxing as she shot April _the_ look, her next immediate reaction being to reach out and slap April on the arm. April winced; Lexie had always been the tougher of the two, having played softball all through college and could still pack a punch, meanwhile, April still bruised like a banana.

"No!" Lexie exclaimed, to which April responded to by merely lifting her hands in mock arrest.

"Sorry! And don't act all offended, you and your boyfriend have the affinity for going at it like rabbits at all hours of the day. It's a _miracle_ he hasn't knocked you up yet," April pointed out.

Whether or not that particular comment had affected Lexie in the slightest—it was true, even she couldn't deny that much—she chose not to acknowledge it. Instead, she let the painfully wide smile spread back over her lips as she reached out and clasped one of April's hands in between hers. Already, April was afraid; Lexie Grey was the least tactile person when it came to showing any sort of emotion or affection towards her friends. "April," she began. "What is the one thing you and I have always talked about doing, ever since sophomore year of college when we decided that we could never in a million years survive medical school?"

"Marrying really rich men and then signing on to do a Desperate Housewives show?"

"April, I swear to _god_ _—"_

"I don't know!" April snapped, head falling back as the exasperated sigh rose from her throat. "What?"

"Europe," Lexie said calmly, even though behind her eyes elation was exploding like fireworks. The word was like pulling a trigger on a reminder, inciting a similar reaction out of April as she immediately straightening up, eyes widening and returning the grip on Lexie's hands with equal fervor. That word went all the way back when April and Lexie were twenty, both of them having failed their entry course to medical biology (April because it was nothing she'd expected in a million years and she wound up hating it, Lexie because she was bored and also hated it) and utterly lost in terms of what direction they ought to take their lives.

They'd sat in the floor of their shared dorm room, a tub of ice cream between them and a box of tissues sitting next to April _—_ she'd been devastated by the course of events, even if she had been miserable the whole time _—_ licking chocolate off their plastic spoons and rambling on about things that sounded like much more fun than becoming a surgeon. It had mostly been a means of keeping the depression of being lost in life at bay, a game for them to play at their pity party of two.

"You think it's too late to be Disney princesses?" April had asked, jamming the pathetic excuse of a spoon down into the half eaten carton of ice cream once again. Lexie had merely smirked.

"You think it's too late to be bar dancers?"

April shook her head, nose wrinkling. "Bar dancers are for people who can't get into college. You have to go to college in order to be a Disney princess."

"That's bullshit," Lexie snorted. "You make more money being a bar dancer."

"Being a Disney princess is more fulfilling," April argued.

Lexie had pulled the spoon from her mouth, pointing it at April. "You know what sounds fulfilling? Going to Europe." She'd sighed at the thought, lazy smile coming over her face as she leaned back against the foot of her bed. "Me and you, managing our way through however many countries we wanted; eating good food, meeting cute boys, sleeping as long as we want. Don't act like you've never thought of just hopping on a plane and crossing the Great Divide."

"Sounds a lot better than college," April grumbled in reply. That was when Lexie had gotten a wicked gleam in the corner of her eye, her line of sight locking onto April's. "What are you thinking?" she'd asked.

"I'm thinking let's do it," Lexie had said. "Let's go to Europe. Me and you, Kep. France, Italy, Spain, England, anywhere and everywhere we feel like going for however long we want. We gain at least twenty pounds, flirt it up with foreigners, do all the stuff we have the time to do now that we don't have med school and seven years of a surgical residency looming over our heads. What else do we have to do?"

April had stared at her best friend for a moment, trying to gauge how serious she was being. When she couldn't find any sort of crack's in Lexie's demeanor, she lifted her spoon in agreement before diving back into the chocolate ice cream.

And that had been their plan ever since; they didn't care how long it took them to get over there. April and Lexie both had a hefty amount of student loans to pay off, especially after the both of them having to tack on an extra semester to catch up in their new programs—April in mass communication, Lexie in political science _—_ so they'd started saving as soon as they could. Over dinner some nights, they'd go off on tangents and theorize on where they'd go, what all they had to do; Lexie was constantly monitoring just about every single country in Western Europe and the possible things to go and do, April had a Europe vision board hanging next to her bed. Just the thought of possibly going on a trip that didn't require them to do so much as think had been April's saving grace through the grueling college years where she was the girl who wore reading glasses more than needed, the girl that went to church every Sunday while everyone else nursed their hangovers and was constantly hunched over a notebook. It had held Lexie together when her mother passed away unexpectedly and her father evolved into a grade A drunk. Europe was their glue.

Even now, years later when most things she and Lexie had concocted faded into oblivion, Europe still was the glue. Staring at that vision board day in and day out had been April's one glimmer of hope when she lost her PR job back in the middle of February when the company filing bankrupt; hell, just having the thought of escaping for a little while at some point in the future was saving grace enough, escaping being the April Kepner everyone knew for a little while and being whoever _she_ _wanted_ to be.

"Lexie Grey, you are not allowed to joke about Europe, that's the number one rule of this household," April warned, voice dangerously quiet. In her mind, she was trying to remember if April Fool's had already passed them by. This couldn't be a joke, this couldn't just be a classic case of her getting her hopes up only to be let down. Not this, not now.

If it were even possible, the smile on Lexie's face expanded. "I'm not kidding, April. We're going."

"Whoa, wait a second," April said, shaking her head as the last hopes her lazy ponytail had been holding onto fell out and let her hair fall down over her shoulders. "How... _how_? Last time I checked, we were only about two thirds there. I thought the plumbing nightmare cost us big time."

"It did," Lexie explained, one of her hands breaking free from April's to wave the thought from the air in dismissal. "That's not the point here, the point is a miracle happened and you and I now have enough money to go to Europe for three weeks." She dropped April's hand entirely, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her a few times. "April, we are going to _Europe_."

The scream erupted from April's throat after a pause of silence, launching herself off the couch with Lexie in tow. "We're going to Europe!" April yelled, throwing her head back.

She flung her arms around her best friend, the tears of joy starting to burn in the corners of her eyes. She knew at some point, things were going to get good for her, they simply had to. That was the logic of the world; it's bad, but it gets better, the logic April had held fast to like some sort of prayer. And now it had.

 **. . .**

April and Lexie sat around their dinner table, April's constant sidekick of her red notebook right in front of her amidst a pile of maps, other extraneous papers, Lexie's laptop, and her now empty coffee cup that she couldn't be bothered with moving. The last few days had been dedicated to Europe planning; Lexie had managed to put in her vacation time, and April was currently in between jobs, which had been another reason to tack onto the other countless ones on how grateful she was this trip had fallen into their laps when it did.

The both of them had always been cut from the same cloth, one of the primary reasons they'd remained such good friends even outside of college aside from the fact they were all the other had in New York. They were both extensive planners, refusing to leave anything up to chance or fate, and that meant hours and hours dedicated to mapping out how this trip was going to go.

"Is your laptop on the map of Germany?" April asked, lifting up her notebook and trying to pinpoint the item in question. "We haven't even thought the first thing about Germany."

"All I've thought about is the fact we aren't going to be there when Oktoberfest is," Lexie admitted sheepishly, carding a hand through her hair as she pushed her laptop up onto the back ends to see if she was using the map as a coaster. "I don't see it, you sure it didn't fall in the floor?"

Right about the time April bent down to look under the table, the door on the lock clicked open and the telltale creak their door made when opening echoed down the hall. "Honey, I'm home," a third voice crooned, and while she was out of Lexie's line of sight, April allowed her face to twist up in a grimace.

She resurfaced, and sure enough, there was Mark Sloan, holding their dinner in his hands with a lopsided grin slapped on his face. Mark Sloan, Lexie's boyfriend who was about as hard to get rid of as plaque. April was constantly pushing for Lexie to tell the man to start paying them rent as well, seeing as how he spent the majority of his time away from his private practice at their apartment, namely in Lexie's bedroom. She was all too familiar with Mark Sloan, more familiar than she ever wanted to be in her life after the shower mishap, and he seemed to think it was merely a bonding thing.

He, as far as April was concerned, was the third wheel in the midst of her and Lexie's sisterhood, and even though he made Lexie happy, a small part of April was always holding onto the idea that maybe one day, he'd just disappear into thin air.

"Ladies, I hope Chinese is okay," he said as he walked around the table, pressing a kiss to the top of Lexie's head. "And I made sure they put in extra fortune cookies, just for you, Kepner."

April rested a hand over her chest, feigning the tug of her heartstrings at the gesture. "Mark, I'm touched." As he strolled past, he reached a hand out to ruffle her hair like he always did. She ducked out of the way, using the opportunity to get another look in the floor for the misplaced map of Germany. "Unless you are sitting on it, Germany's grown legs and jumped right out the window," she announced.

Lexie frowned. "I know I printed that damn thing out, it didn't just sprout legs and walk out the door," she grumbled.

Mark, who was elbow deep inside the bag of food in search of his own, lifted his head and glanced over at them. "I've been to Germany before," he stated, pulling his hand out from the bag and throwing a handful of fortune cookies onto the counter. "We'd be better off to be going while Oktoberfest was in town." Lexie made a face, lifting her hand to gesture off at him as April rolled her eyes.

"What I told her."

"There is plenty to do in Germany other than just get wasted," April protested.

"We're also on a budget," Lexie pointed out.

Mark, who was still rummaging around for his food, nodded in agreement. "If we're gonna blow money, might as well blow it on alcohol."

"What do you mean by _we_?" April finally asked, her eyebrows furrowing together as she set her pen down in the middle of her notebook, swiveling around in her seat to face Mark head on. Mark was a deer in the headlights at that particular question, looking around April to shoot Lexie a glance that was nothing more than a cry for help.

"Um, well," Lexie started, her voice unnaturally high and April glancing back over her shoulder to look at her as she spoke. "Remember how I told you a, uh, a miracle had happened and we'd gotten the rest of the money for the trip?" April nodded slowly, unsure of where this was going. Of course, Lexie didn't leave her hanging for long as she motioned off to where Mark was standing. "Mark's our, um, well, he's kind of our miracle."

For a moment, words weren't forming in the back of April's throat as her eyes darted back and forth between Mark, who looked like he wanted to fade into the background for once, and Lexie, who had an excessive amount of color in her cheeks and was trying not to let her eyes glue themselves to the ground. Back and forth, back and forth, April's mind racing even though she couldn't find the words. Her body, however, already had the answer she needed and it did the talking for her.

Escaping, of course.

"I'm...I'm uh, gonna go wash up before I eat," April stammered out, pushing her chair back and darting out of it. She could hear Lexie's hand collide with Mark's shoulder, her hushed scolding whispers to him too quiet to be distinguishable. The second she'd crossed the threshold of the bathroom, she slammed the door quickly before pressing up against it to try and catch her breath.

This wasn't happening. _But of course it is, April_. Mark wasn't necessarily the worst thing to ever happen, by any means, he was okay whether or not April ever planned on admitting that to his face, but it was an intrusion nonetheless. Her saving grace had effectively been shattered, and while it shouldn't have been as big a deal as she was exaggerating it to be, it still felt as though someone had removed the floor from underneath her heart and let it sink down to her kneecaps. Her eyes were burning, the tears escaping on their own accord as she tried to straighten herself out. All those plans she'd made got turned on their side, a fact she didn't like as is, and the fact Lexie had conveniently left out that particular part of the conditions. It felt like a betrayal, and it felt like all of this had been a joke all along.

 _Get yourself together; who cares if the money came from Mark Sloan and he's tagging along?_

 ** _This was supposed to be my vacation with Lexie, not an opportunity to third-wheel with the two of them on their honeymoon. She's my best friend, it's not a crime to want to spend time alone with her. She sees enough of him as it is._**

 _This is ridiculous, April._

 ** _Is it, though? Is it really?_**

"April," Lexie's voice came through the other side of the door, quiet. "Kep, let me in."

"I'm fine," April called out, swallowing hard and trying to boost her voice into something that resembled the realm of okay.

"April, just open the door."

She sighed, peeling herself off the door and twisting the knob for Lexie. She held it open long enough for Lexie to squeeze herself through the crack in the space she'd put between the door and its frame before shutting it right back behind her. And that was when she sort of lost it.

"When were you going to tell me?" April demanded, wiping the tears from her eyes quickly to hide the fact she was more upset than betrayed as she probably should have been. "When were you going to tell me _our_ trip had been invaded upon? Last time I checked, Mark Sloan was not our invisible, third roommate in sophomore year of college!"

"I was going to tell you, April, I was—"

"When?" Lexie was letting April step all over her, pressing her lips together as April rambled on wildly, wringing out her hands and pacing in the incredibly small space she had to do so as her train of thought verbalized itself. "When? When we were about to get on the plane? Lexie, this was our trip! Me and you, not me and you and your handsome doctor boyfriend who self-appointed him the third member of our friendship! This is what got me through college and losing my job, this is what got you through _losing your mother._ This was all we had—well, aside from Jesus, we had him too—but this was it! We, we didn't _have_ anything, but this and each other. And now Mark Sloan is, is...he's infected it," she deduced, finally meeting eyes with Lexie. "He has infected Europe."

Lexie's head tilted to the side, sighing. "He offered to pay for the rest of the trip. I'd been talking more about it lately and, hell, what was I supposed to say, Kep? No thanks, I'll pass? I couldn't say no, not when I knew how much this would mean to you. We've waited long enough and you...you've needed the pick me up, you need something to cheer you up and make you smile a hell of a lot more than Netflix reruns and writing does. When Europe knocks, you don't just slam the door in its face and say _not interested, maybe next time_."

"This was supposed to be about you and me," April muttered quietly, head lowering towards the floor as she studied the tile. "This was ours. Not his."

"He knows that," Lexie insisted, rubbing April's shoulders. "Trust me, he's really not keen on ruining this for either of us, he knows how much this means to you. To both of us." Somehow, April severely doubted that, and if for some reason he did, he was _definitely_ going to have to start paying rent, but she kept her thoughts to herself. "April, the only reason he is going is because he doesn't want the two of us being by ourselves over there, it's got nothing to do with the money."

"We can protect ourselves!" April protested, head snapping back up as she gestured between the two of them. "If someone tried to kidnap us, they'd wind up bringing us back, and you know it." One of Lexie's eyebrows kinked, her silent touché as she shrugged.

"Listen, if you want to tell me to tell him to butt the hell out, I will. You're right, this isn't his trip, this has nothing to do with him. I'll tell him thanks, offer to buy him a sweatshirt and send him a few pictures of me in a bikini, and he can hold down the fort here."

"Lex, there's a reason he lives over here, and it's because he has no idea how to maintain a household of his own."

"Not the point," Lexie sighed. "Look, you say the word, and I'll tell him adios. Ball's in your court, Kep."

April bit down on her lower lip, thoughts racing a mile a minute inside her head. She wanted to put her foot down, be stubborn, say no. This was hers, hers and Lexie's, and she'd be damned if she had to run around and third wheel with the two of them through Europe when it was supposed to be her and Lexie arm in arm and thanking their lucky stars after all for dropping the med route. Her conscience was coaxing her to be the bigger, grateful person and just let Mark tag along because really, he didn't _have_ to assist in the funding, which of course met resistance almost every time from the side of her screaming to be selfish. Lexie was giving her the out, letting her be as selfish as she wanted to be on this because she felt bad about dragging her boyfriend into it. And then she saw the look on Lexie's face, all the more of a reminder of how happy she was whenever she was around Sloan, a happiness that not even she could bring Lexie.

Lexie, the most important person in April's life; Lexie, the person who never failed in scraping April off the ground even when she herself was knocked over. Lexie, the person who always put April's happiness before her own.

Exhaling, her arms fell down by her sides as she internally waved the white flag against herself. "No," she finally conceded. "No, he can come. He's our miracle, after all." Lexie didn't seem too convinced by this.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah...well, not entirely, but as sure as I'm gonna get." April, however, wasn't finished, pausing only for a moment. "I get the window seat, all forms of transportation."

Lexie nodded solemnly, even though April could see the excited twinkle in her eye had returned. "You got it."

* * *

 **Kind of short, I realize, but sometimes you gotta just establish some things before you can dive right in. April and Lexie was a friendship we were robbed of, therefore it is very important to me and I cross my fingers you're enjoying them so far. As for Jackson, you will be meeting him very soon, have no fear, and it's going to certainly be interesting. Let me know what you think, what you want to see, all the thoughts and feels are welcomed. And I really do hope that this made you smile; it's not really in my nature to write something that is, for the most part, rather lighthearted, but I think that we can all use a smile here and there with all of our faves, something Shonda in no means does for us. Here's to hoping that Japril the Sequel doesn't actually end my life next week. xo**


	2. Travels

**The common theme in last update's reviews was the love for the April and Lexie friendship, and let me tell you something right now, my loves: if I was Shonda, the two of them would have gotten so much more, like they rightfully deserved. I'll never stop petitioning for justice for my babies. Anyways, I'm really happy to see that you guys are enjoying this overall, I was a little bit worried that this wasn't really any good because it feels like a twist from my usual style. But your reviews were so kind, I hope you know how appreciated they are. Also, I hope you're starting to catch on some of the things that I'm purposefully throwing in here, like the** ** _Divide_** **lyrics and some specific plot points and whatnot! Just because this is a fluffy story doesn't mean it isn't gonna be chock-full of my little Em-isms. Wink wink. I love love love you all, and get ready for the Japril craziness.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 _"And when the world's against me, is when I really come alive." —_ _ **Eraser, Ed Sheeran**_

April had only ever been at an airport one other time in her life, and that was when she'd flown from Chicago to Boston. Her acceptance into Boston University had been one of her greatest accomplishments, and while it wasn't anywhere in her home state of Illinois where her parents would have preferred she stayed, Boston University was a new adventure that had a relatively cheaper med-school program than her dream school. Harvard was only ten minutes away as it was, which meant even if she couldn't attend classes there, she was close enough to catch a ride there and admire the campus beyond what Google Images could provide.

It had been an emotional endeavor, with her parents tearfully sending her off with her brand new luggage and starry gaze clouding her vision as she embarked on what she believed was going to be the journey of a lifetime, trying to take in as much of it as she could. It was like she'd seen it in all the movies when people were at the airport, boarding their planes for whatever next great adventure awaited them.

This time, however, was the deleted, rough-cut airport scene from the movies that most people would have just skipped over anyways since it exuded disaster.

She had grown about as accustomed to Mark tagging along with them as one possibly could; it still wasn't her favorite thing in the world and she was still carrying the last few sparks of a grudge towards Lexie for putting her in that situation to start, and he of course was tickled strawberry pink that he was joining them. Mark, unfortunately, was the component that garnered up most of the disaster. Punctuality was his latest kick, and he'd insisted that they be at the airport at _least_ three hours in advance. Their flight was at nine in the morning, and she and Lexie had already set in their plans to take a nap late in the day on Friday so they'd wake up during the early hours of the morning, be on the go, and fall somewhere within the lines of the London timezone by the time jet lag kicked them in the ass. They had it mapped out.

Mark didn't like the mapping ordeal all too much. He'd actually backpacked through Europe before (of course he had) the traditional way he claimed, and insisted that jet lag was simply a part of the experience. He'd hardly let April squeeze in any room for a nap on Friday and resulted in her crashing around midnight because she needed sleep after warding him off all day. Needless to say, she'd gotten thrown off of her plans and was moving through the airport with steam threatening to start blowing out of her ears at any minute.

Lexie was the only person who seemed even remotely glad to be threading her way through the security lines, taking the lead with Mark in one hand and and one side of the waist tie on April's jacket in the other. She was like their mother, pulling the two of them along behind her. April's only excuse for laziness was Mark and his ridiculous request to watch every single Jason Bourne movie in one sitting only hours before. Lexie had been the one to check their luggage, push them through all the lines, and now she had them on a leash just trying to get them to their gate so she herself could collapse.

April really didn't blame her, either.

"April, pick up your _feet—"_

"Is that a Cinnabon?" Mark interrupted his girlfriend, stopping dead in his tracks.

Lexie sighed impatiently. Woman on a mission, she certainly was; she seemed to be the only person who was still right in step with the plan at this point despite its already being shot to hell. "Mark, this isn't even our concourse. Keep moving."

"I haven't seen a Cinnabon in years," April groaned, shaking loose from Lexie's grip. Mark dropped Lexie's hand at roughly the same time, the two of them veering off course and following their stomachs straight into the Cinnabon line. There were few things that Mark and April had been able to bond over throughout the three years that he and Lexie had been together, and food was the strongest of them.

"You guys," Lexie whined, only to no avail. Ignored entirely and realizing it was a lost cause, Lexie swore under her breath and trudged along behind them.

April had one hand wrapped around the strap of her backpack, the other hanging down freely as she used that shoulder to lean up against Mark as they waited in line. "So, Red, what are you looking forward to most across the Great Divide?" Mark asked, using the top of her head as a mock armrest.

Normally she would have swatted his arm away, but her tiredness held the urge at bay. "All of it," she replied, eyes fixed ahead on the restaurant sign and absentmindedly flickering over the prices. "Although the hopeless romantic in me is screaming Paris."

Mark laughed quietly. "Now _how_ did I know that? Was it the endless amount of shitty romance novels on your bookshelf or the constant pushing for A Walk to Remember on movie nights? I don't remember." He feigned his surprise poorly, April's reply the simple nudge of his arm. Mark might have been Lexie's annoying, constantly-present boyfriend, but he'd spent enough time around April for the two of them to have developed their own relationship. He was the aggravating big brother, who occasionally made his efforts of looking out for her visible but masked the rest of them behind his vexing guise.

They finally made it up to the front of the line, April only ordering the classic and Mark doing serious damage to their current stock by buying what seemed like one of everything on the menu. Off to the side, she spotted Lexie checking down at her phone, glancing up only to see Mark with an obscenely large Cinnabon bag and rolling her eyes.

As April went to pay, Mark lifted up his hand and rested it on her wrist. "C'mon, Kep, let me get it."

"Only Lexie is allowed to call me Kep," April clarified. Mark shook his head defiantly.

"Fine, Kep- _ner._ Seriously. Don't worry about it." With that, he pushed her credit card out of the way, body-blocking her from the cashier in order to pay. April sighed, grabbing her significantly smaller bag littered in 'thank yous' and retreating off to where Lexie was standing.

"Is he going to insist on paying for everything while we're here?" she asked Lexie, folding her arms over her chest.

She shrugged in response, stuffing her phone back in the pocket of her sweatpants. "Probably."

"Part of the plan was to actually blow through all our own money."

"Mark doesn't like plans," was Lexie's nonchalant reasoning. "You know this. All _I_ know is that he better be planning on giving me one of those five hundred cinnamon rolls or else we're making him swim to Europe."

After Lexie was able to yank Mark away from the Cinnabon counter (and the poor woman who had emerged from the back with a platter of samples to hand out) they'd gotten back on track to their concourse. JFK was significantly larger than O'Hare was, and it was a lucky thing Lexie knew her way around well enough with that photographic memory of hers, otherwise April would have been lost and Mark would have still been back perusing through all the food stands. April was letting herself be pulled along willingly at this point, her focus more so on getting into the Cinnabon bag than getting to their gate two hours early on the dot.

Lexie moved like a hurricane, April almost dropping her fork on two occasions and Mark muttering under his breath all of his plans to hog-tie his girlfriend and toss her over his shoulder like she was luggage to keep her from running all these marathons with them in tow as they strategically weaved in and out of other crowds of people and kiosks in their way. If anyone was a morning person out of the three of them, it was Lexie, and she was showing her true colors a little more than April or Mark would have liked.

They finally reached their gate, which happened to be entirely abandoned, Mark collapsing down into the first seat he saw. "Thank god," he sighed. "Lexie, I love you, but for someone with such little legs you move fuckin' _fast._ "

"I second this," April said, lifting her hand in agreement before putting her plastic fork in between her teeth to balance out her cinnamon roll box in her lap.

"The two of you are just snails. I can't help it you're both about as athletic as a stick," Lexie reasoned. "Also, Mark, you owe me a large roll, hand it over."

Mark made a face as he resentfully handed her one of the blue boxes and a plastic fork. "Stingy ass girlfriend."

"Manwhore."

"Window seat," April interrupted as she wiped her mouth, glancing down at her boarding pass that she'd sat over in the seat next to her. "Who's got it? It's mine."

Mark frowned. "I always get the window seat on trips, Kepner. I pay _extra_ to make sure I get a window seat." April looked over at him, one of her eyebrows lifting in question. "I paid for your Cinnabon. I didn't have to do that, but I did," he insisted.

"And I believe the terms for your accompaniment on this trip was that I got the window seat everywhere we went. All forms of transportation." The smile on April's face was smug, almost sinful, and really, she couldn't have been enjoying this exchange any more even if she'd tried. She held out her boarding pass to him, the other hand beckoning for him to pony up. "Unless, of course, you'd like to leave."

Under his breath, April could hear him let out a string of colorful swears in between his exaggerated groan, begrudgingly pulling his boarding pass from his back pocket and handing it over to her. April snatched it from him gleefully, laughing.

"She's evil," Mark grumbled, glancing over at Lexie as he bit off another chunk of his cinnamon roll forcefully. She rolled her eyes, patting him on the shoulder in a half-hearted gesture of comfort.

They spent the next hour and a half clearing through the rest of Mark's purchases at Cinnabon, Mark sliding a few seats down from them so he could stretch out over a few chairs and attempt to cat nap. That lasted for about eleven minutes (Lexie was timing him) until someone else joined them at their gate and he had to sit up and at least attempt to be a decent person and not _that_ asshole. April and Lexie spent their time talking quietly, nestled up together and listening through Lexie's music while they went through their former college classmates' social media accounts and looking up pictures of all the places they had on their itineraries for the trip.

Boarding the plane was an event at least; Mark wasn't thrilled that they'd forbidden him from buying them first class tickets—"It's a long ass flight, if we have to drop extra money to be comfortable on the seven hour plane ride then I'll do it" had been his excuse, to which Lexie had merely smiled and sent him away from where they'd been making their reservations—and was even less thrilled when he saw April joyfully slide all the way through to the window seat when they'd reached their row.

"Pinch me," Lexie requested quietly as she sat down next to April, Mark hovering over them as he loaded their bags into the overhead compartment strategically. "I still don't feel like we're actually doing this."

"None of this feels real," April confessed, exhaling.

She could see the light hitting Lexie's eyes, sparkling as they looked at April. The look in her eyes was inexplicable happiness, an excitement April had never seen in Lexie before. "Wouldn't wanna do it with anybody else, though," Lexie pointed out. "Besides, you're my best friend. My sister from another mister, my—"

April winced, interrupting her. "Oh god, please don't start saying stuff like that. It makes it sound like you're planning on us crashing over the Atlantic or something and you're just getting all your goodbyes out early." Lexie rolled her eyes, shoving April playfully.

"Oh, shut up. You're my good luck charm, Kep," she reassured, looping one of her arms around April's and tugging her closer. "Nothing bad can happen as long as it's you and me. Us against the world, and all that other shit."

April could only laugh as Lexie squeezed her closer in something that she was sure resembled a hug, her sights drifting off to outside the window where the runway was. It was requiring a decent amount of self control (and the reminder that Mark was a hawk, always watching) to keep from pressing her nose up against the glass of the window like a child. _This is happening_ , she thought to herself, biting back the growing smile curling along her lips.

 _Europe, here we come._

 **. . .**

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London City Airport. Local time is 22:43, and the temperature is 10 degrees Celcius. For your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. This will indicate that we have parked at the gate and that it is safe for you to move about. At this time, you may use your cellular phones if you wish. Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the overhead bins. On behalf of American Airlines and the entire crew, I'd like to thank you for joining us on this trip and we are looking forward to seeing you on board again in the near future. Have a nice evening!"

Mark was dead asleep, Lexie tucked underneath his dead weight arm despite her being wide awake and watching a movie on her phone, attempting to be careful in waking him up, and April was finishing the last few words still on her fingers when the announcement wen off. She folded the cover on her iPad, reaching underneath her seat for her backpack to stuff it back in the pouch. A nearly seven hour flight meant that she could do one of two things: be relatively productive, or be like Mark. She'd chosen the former, working through articles she wanted to draft for her blog and then occasionally opening up her coloring book app whenever the words stopped coming.

Outside, the sun had already set, black tickling along the edges of tou he horizon. The lights along the runway and further out into the city were smeared, blurred from the post-rain mist and erasing any and all stars from the sky. April felt as though she'd stepped right into the middle of a dream, even though she was as wide awake as she was ever going to get.

April felt someone grab onto her wrists, turning to see Lexie facing her with a grin a mile wide stretched over her face as Mark stretched behind her. "Kep," she said softly. "We're in Europe."

"We're in Europe," April repeated, the words that had been a prayer for so long now a fact. They were here.

A blank page. A new adventure.

After exiting the plane, the three of them moved through the airport at a languid pace; Mark was still half asleep, despite having slept through what had equated into an entire day, as he lead them through. Lexie and April had left him in charge, seeing as how he was going to make himself useful whether he decided that on his own or the outside forces willed it, the two of them too busy immersed in their quiet, excited whispers at the fact they were in London.

April had made sure to take meticulous pictures of her vision board before they'd left, seeing as how even the _idea_ of stuffing the actual thing into her bag and dragging it along the Atlantic Ocean was cumbersome. Life was now breathing into the printed out pictures she'd had hanging over her bed for so long, the excitement building in her chest with every step they took towards the exit.

"April, this is your bag," Mark told her as he heaved the bag off the luggage conveyor belt and set it on the ground for April. They'd assigned him the duty of fetching their bags while they flipped through April's pictures of her vision board just for kicks, and despite his having a few comments to slip out under his breath, he'd done as they'd asked. She snapped the handle up, rolling it back over to where she and Lexie had stationed themselves so they were out of his way while he worked. "What did you pack, _bricks_?"

"Hey, you haven't picked up Lexie's suitcase yet, she's way worse than I am when it comes to packing light," April called out in reminder, and Mark groaned.

"Jesus, I need caffeine."

Lexie stared at him, her eyebrows furrowed and the bewilderment slapped over her features. "Mark, you slept for five and a half hours. On me. I counted. There's no way in hell you can be tired."

After hauling another suitcase off the conveyor belt, he paused to glare over at her pointedly. "And yet, here we are."

"It's the back," April muttered quietly into Lexie's shoulder as he went back to work. "That's what happens when you're old and you take a five hour nap in a tiny airplane seat."

"I heard that, Kepner!" Mark snapped, as Lexie and April tried to bite back their laughter.

"You were kinda meant to!"

After they'd gotten their luggage things went a little smoother, especially after Mark had found a cheap coffee stand and nearly knocked Lexie over in the process to get to it. They managed to hail a cab with relative ease, April and Lexie sliding into the backseat while Mark climbed into the passenger seat whether it was welcome or not. April folded her legs up in the seat as they rolled through the exit of the airport and into the main flow of traffic, propping up her suitcase against the back of the seat to dig out her journal. Her iPad might have been a little more efficient than pen and paper while on the plane, but she would always hold a preference to the latter. There was something about moving a pen over paper and letting the ink flow out along with her words that she found oddly soothing, her security blanket of sorts. Wherever she went, so did the journal. She went to open the front compartment of her bag to retrieve it when her eyes wandered away and froze at the painstakingly out-of-place detail of this picture.

The yellow ribbon she always kept tied around her suitcase for distinguishing purposes was no longer around the handle.

Waves of panic shot through her, immediately subsiding as the voice of reason sounded in her head that it was entirely possible for a yellow ribbon to get loose and fall off a suitcase handle, even if she'd triple knotted it. April resumed moving forward as she unzipped the front compartment in one fluid movement, hand dipping inside to rummage around for the notebook. For whatever reason it wasn't bumping against her hand, stretching her fingers down in case it had wedged itself near the bottom of the pouch. Her lips pursed together as she reached in as far as she could before she finally felt something brushing against her hand and she latched on to pull it out. When her hand emerged from the bag, so did a box of condoms that most certainly did _not_ belong to her.

"Lexie," April said quietly, horrified and scared that if she spoke any louder she would implode in an array in anxiety-induced emotion. "Lexie."

Lexie's eyes moved over to April, one of her eyebrows lifted in question. One look at April's face was all the give-away needed to know that something, whatever it was, wasn't right, and that April was about to die of either mortification or panic one. "What?" she asked. April didn't have to respond, since the minute the words fell out of Lexie's mouth her line of sight wandered down to where April's hands were. "Oh my _god_ , April, what are you doing with those?"

The silent plea in April's eyes wasn't loud enough, apparently, because Lexie had gone and nearly yelled, grabbing Mark's attention almost instantly.

"Kepner," Mark whistled as he twisted around in his seat to see what the girls were talking about, ridiculous grin slapped over his face that only made April wish that much harder for the seat's most-likely pleather interior to absorb her all in one gulp. "I didn't realize you had so many adult activities included in your little plan."

April's face was red hot, one step away from actually setting itself on fire. "They're... _not_ mine," she spat out as the words took their time forcing from her closing in throat, roughly the same time that Lexie had leaned forward and thwacked Mark on the exposed part of his neck that was within her reach. "None of this is mine."

"None of what is yours?" Lexie prompted, and that was when April allowed herself to slam down on the freak-out button.

"Lex, this isn't my stuff. We— _Mark_ —must have grabbed the wrong bag, my journal isn't in there and Lexie _this is not my stuff_ —"

"Okay, Kep, _breathe_." The most unhelpful statement of them all came falling from Lexie's mouth as April's breathing started to grow more and more shallow by the second. Lexie rested a hand on April's thigh, squeezing it lightly as a means of reassurance as she tried to coax April to look her in the eyes and mimic her breathing pattern. After a few exaggerated and guided deep breaths, Lexie nodded in the direction of the mystery suitcase April felt as though was going to burn her alive if she looked at it any longer. "Reach in there and see if there's something like a luggage tag, an ID, anything," she suggested.

April did as she was told, all but throwing the box of condoms over at Lexie just for the purpose of getting them out of her hands. She didn't want to look at them, think about them, acknowledge their existence; somewhere, her journal was with some stranger and that was freaking her out most of all, meanwhile she had their box of _condoms_. This couldn't be happening, but of course it was. Maybe this was just what she got for being best friends with the unofficial bad-luck magnet, or maybe it was punishment for something the universe had yet to reveal to her.

Carefully she felt her way around the already opened front pouch, feeling around for anything else—she was praying nothing else sex related, or else she'd have to open the car door and fling herself out while it was still moving. After a minute or so, she found something resting at the very bottom.

Pulling it out, she sighed mostly out of relief when she saw it was a luggage tag. "Oh thank god," she muttered under her breath, hands still shaking as she turned it over to scan it for some sort of information, to figure out who the hell had currently made off with her journal and the rest of her belongings.

Hazel eyes read the name once, twice, and then a third time.

Jackson Avery.

* * *

 **I told you** **Jackson would be showing up shortly, did I not? This feels a _tad_ bit like a filler chapter, but now that all the formalities are out of the way, things are going to start snowballing. Big time. Reviews make my heart smile _almost_ as much as Japril the Sequel. xo**


	3. Omits

**I went and saw Beauty and the Beast yesterday and let me tell you, five year old Em was moved to her core that she could barely type the author's note of this. Either way, here we are once again, and all of your reviews made me smile like a maniac. April, Lexie, and Mark truly are OT3 goals and I'm so thrilled you all are enjoying their dynamic! You're certainly not going to be lacking in that area with this story. And Jackson's grand entrance, certainly...which means it can only go one direction from here. And Lals, in reply to your review, April and Jackson do _not_ know one another. Not yet. Wink. The usual disclaimers apply, remember to send some love once you're finished reading, and off we go!**

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

 _"But lord knows everybody's talking 'bout exponential growth, and the stock market crashing in their portfolios while I'll be sitting here with a song that I wrote saying, love could change the world in a moment, but what do I know? Love can change the world in a moment, but what do I know?" — **What Do I Know?, Ed Sheeran**_

The whole ride to their hotel, April was wired. Wired itself was a loose fitting descriptor; she hadn't stopped fidgeting since she realized that her suitcase was now with someone named Jackson Avery and more importantly, her journal had been detached from her. That flimsy red notebook was her lifeline, an extension of herself, and she could feel her skin start to crawl just with the knowledge that it wasn't within reach. That someone else had it.

Mark wasn't the most apologetic person in the whole world, April had come to learn, but he'd been spouting off apologies like a broken sink faucet ever since he'd realized that it was more than likely his misdoing that had gotten them into this debacle to begin with. She'd been telling him it was alright despite her being very aware that that was a lie, just trying to get him to shut up so she could try and iron things out in her already shot mind. Lexie had a hand on her thigh the whole time as an anchor of comfort, while she kept throwing Mark insults under her breath.

It certainly wasn't helping anything, but at the very least, it was bringing a half-smile to April's face in the midst of her panic.

April pulled the foreign suitcase along behind her up the stairs to their room, and it seemed much heavier than it had when she was hoisting it up to put in the car with her. She didn't know if it was because the suitcase was in fact heavier than she'd noticed the first time around, or because it wasn't hers and she was painfully aware of the fact now.

They'd booked a suite with two bedrooms, something April was very apprehensive of doing in the first place. If Mark was willing to pay for a two-room suite at a relatively nice hotel in London, April didn't understand why he wouldn't have gone ahead and book two separate rooms. Personally, she wanted to be able to walk away from the trip without any more incidents of seeing her best friend or her best friend's boyfriend naked or hearing things through thin walls that she knew weren't meant for her ears to hear. At all. Regardless, what was done was done, and the only benefit of it was that she got first pick on the bedroom.

Under normal circumstances, she would have been eager to taunt her decision in front of Mark. Now, she was beelining into the first bedroom she saw so she could finally collapse face-down onto the bed and suppress herself under blankets and pillows until she woke up and all of this was revealed to be a bad dream.

She felt sick to her stomach at the presence of a stranger's— _Jackson Avery's_ —suitcase in her room and not her own, the painful elephant lurking in the corner. Losing her luggage wasn't all that big of a deal anyways; over the years her and Lexie's wardrobes had meshed so thoroughly it was hard to tell who had owned what to start off with. It was her misplaced journal that had her in such a spin. Writing had been April's safe haven since high school, always finding comfort in putting her thought processes on paper and building all sorts of places to escape to through a page and some words. Lexie had bought her that journal when April'd gotten her first job out of college, and it had stayed with her through it all. It had been her therapist, her crutch in times of need, her scratch sheet of paper when she needed one, her to-do lists and songs to listen to and half-built poems and doodles in the margin. It was April's mind in a written language bleeding out all over those pages, her inner-most thoughts, her _self_ and someone else currently had them in their possession.

Someone else could potentially be flipping through it.

Someone else could be learning her.

It was enough to make her want to bury her face pillow-down and not move until morning.

Conveniently, her bedroom was not next to the one Mark and Lexie would be sharing, but perhaps worse: the bathroom the three of them would have to share. Someone had already hopped in the shower, singing rather loudly—Mark, probably—meaning that the headache already beginning to make its appearance was only going to prevent her from sleeping and trying to forget this nightmare existed. She grabbed one of the decor pillows, hugging it tight to her chest and curling into a ball around it as she stared over at the suitcase sitting in front of the chest-of-drawers. Like maybe if she willed it, it would magically vanish and hers would fill its place.

A faint knock echoed off her door, and April grunted in reply. When she looked over her shoulder to see who the intruder was, Lexie was hugging the door frame as she looked at April, concern riddled over her features.

"Kep," she sighed, her shoulders falling. "C'mon, we're in Europe. You're making me feel even worse about what happened just looking at you."

"It wasn't your fault, Lex."

"Yeah, but it was potentially Mark's and I claim responsibility for Mark, so..." Lexie shrugged, her fingers trailing along the edge of the door frame. "Listen, I'm gonna try and order something from one of these takeout menus in here, do you want anything? Mark's paying."

The teasing tone in Lexie's last statement cracked the edges of a smile on April, but not enough to count as a successful win on Lexie's terms. "I'm okay," April finally replied. "Not really all that hungry." Sadness reappeared on Lexie's face, her eyebrows furrowing together at April's response. She didn't seem entirely convinced by it, but she let it go.

Her hand wrapped around the door knob as she pulled it towards her, prepared to give April her privacy. Something stopped her, pushing it open just a little bit farther so she could see April and April could see most of her. "Maybe look and see if there's anything else in there other than a name?" Lexie suggested, with a shrug. "You might be able to get your stuff back faster. You're in Europe, Kep, you shouldn't have to be miserable if you can do anything about it."

Lexie finally closed the door entirely, the sound of her footsteps growing father away and eventually drowning out in Mark's rendition of Can't Fight this Feeling, complete with his drumming accompaniment on the shower walls. Her suggestion wrangled around April's mind for a little while as she spent her time studying the ceiling, trying to tune Mark out as much as humanly possible, thinking about what this Jackson Avery could possibly be doing with her journal right now.

It was like she could hear a clock ticking in her mind, accenting every second and minute that passed her by, even more annoying than Mark's rock concert in the bathroom.

April finally reached the point where lying on her bed and memorizing every little imperfection on the ceiling was no longer doing her good. Lexie, hate to admit it, was right. The longer she sat around doing nothing was the longer she had to let this drag out. She wasn't the girl who just sat around and let the world work things out, she'd always done her best to have a say in how it happened. And Jackson Avery, whoever he was, was not going to delay her trip any more than it already had been.

Getting up, she padded over to where she'd sat the suitcase down and snapped the handle down, throwing it onto the bed. His suitcase was identical to hers, and it had been no wonder they'd gotten swapped, especially with his luggage tag on the inside and her use of a yellow ribbon to distinguish things. She knew this was an invasion of privacy, the exact thing she was crossing all her fingers and toes he wasn't doing right now, but she figured her finding that box of condoms on accident had already broken that barrier. What she was doing now was all in the name of problem solving.

Her fingers found the zipper on one of the smaller pouches, assuming the best way to start was to begin in the same place where she'd found the luggage tag. There was no need in going through all of his things just to see if she could find something like a phone number. She undid the first pocket, cringing mostly out of secondhand embarrassment as she pulled the box of condoms out and set them on the bed. Back in her hand went, rummaging around for the luggage tag again.

She brought it out and looked at it again closely, only seeing his name written on the tag in terrible, _terrible_ handwriting. Her eyebrows furrowed together, tossing it aside and moving to open another zipper pocket.

Toothbrush. Razor. Ziploc bag filled with what she presumed were all of his liquids; small thing of mouthwash, toothpaste, shaving cream. Deodorant. April kept throwing all of it to the side, wedging her hand down as far as she could go until she hit the end of the pouch. She found another small thing at the bottom, pulling it out only to find _another_ luggage tag. This one, however, had more information than just his name, but had an address, cellphone number, email address—which, in her mind, certainly dated the guy—and enough stuff to get her back her luggage.

Assuming everything was still in service.

"Who the hell has two luggage tags?" she mumbled to herself, grabbing her cellphone from her carry-on bag and dialing the number on the tag carefully. She looked it over twice to make sure she had the right thing, said a silent prayer, took a deep breath, and hit the call button.

The phone rang once, April folding her arms over her chest as she paced nervously. Twice; April looking over at the edge of the bed and contemplating the idea of sitting down for a moment. Three times, and that box of condoms was _mocking_ her.

Finally, the other end clicked, someone on the other end clearing their throat. "Mm, hello?"

She hadn't even realized she was holding her breath until the words came rushing out of her throat. "Um...yeah, hi, is this—uh, Jackson Avery?" she stammered.

"Whatever it is you're selling, not interested—"

"Wait!" April found herself yelling, heart racing and her palms beginning to sweat as she tried to string together the sentences fast enough before he hung up on her. "I, uh, you're really going to think this is _crazy_ ," she laughed nervously, wringing out her free hand. "But I somehow ended up with your suitcase at the airport? I mean, well, somehow your bag and mine got switched and when I got off my plane for whatever reason I got your stuff instead of mine? So I'm kind of guessing you ended up with mine, too."

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and she was beginning to wonder if he'd already ended the call and she was talking just to hear her own voice. April moved the phone away from her face, seeing that the timer was still running up on the call, before pressing it up to her ear again. Right as she opened her mouth to say something else, he finally spoke up. "So you've got my stuff?"

"Yeah, I've got it."

"You...wouldn't have happened to go through it?"

April winced, closing her eyes and praying the topic would change. "It was an accident, let's just...not talk about it. Everything's where it was to start and will not be looked at any more, trust me. I have no desire to see what else is in there."

She heard a sigh from the other end. "Well, thank you, I guess, for calling me and letting me know you have my stuff. And that I've got yours, apparently, I hadn't even noticed." April pulled the phone back, staring at it as though she was glaring at him physically, bewilderment riddling her. _How the hell do you not realize you've got a stranger's luggage?_ "Although I guess now the yellow ribbon makes sense...are you somewhere in London?" he asked.

"I am. I'll be here for the next two days; if it's okay with you I want to meet up as soon as possible and get things straightened out, I've uh, I've got some work...stuff, in there, that I've got to work on. And stuff." April was a terrible liar, this much she knew, and she was praying it was a good enough excuse to get this guy to follow her lead.

"Yeah, sure, that's cool. I'm here for a conference so I'll be in that all tomorrow morning, but I think I'll have time to slip away and switch out. Can you meet me in the lobby tomorrow at like one? Grosvenor House Hotel?"

"Um yeah, yeah...that's fine. Totally." The cheerfulness in her voice was all a ruse, of course; she was beginning to comb through tomorrow's itinerary in her head and how this would push them back significantly. She'd have to remind Lexie that she claimed Mark as her responsibility and therefore they were undoing his mess and having to potentially sacrifice riding the London Eye.

"Great," he said. "Can I call you back on this number if anything changes?"

"That's fine," April replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"I'll see you tomorrow, then—uh, I never actually got your name?"

She carded a hand through her hair, sitting down on the edge of the bed as the conversation finally dwindled itself down to the end. "April. April Kepner," she answered.

"April Kepner," he repeated slowly. "Well, it's nice to meet you, I guess. I'll see you tomorrow, April."

"See you then." With that, she hung up the phone and fell the rest of the ways backwards on her bed, phone falling from her hand.

 _Jackson Avery._

 **. . .**

As she'd assumed, Lexie wasn't thrilled at all about Jackson Avery wanting to meet right in the middle of the day, especially while she was still juggling with the jet lag. Mark didn't seem _that_ fazed by it, and if he was, he certainly wasn't letting it come on. April had kindly reminded her that the London Eye would still be there later on, but if she didn't get her hands on her own clothes—when the hell Lexie had gone down a pant size was unbeknownst to her—and her journal, she was going to implode.

"Grosvenor House Hotel?" Mark had asked as they'd gotten out of the car, April walking around back with the driver to fetch Jackson's suitcase from the trunk. "Damn, Kepner, you didn't tell us that Magnum Condoms was also as rich as they come."

"You've stayed in your fair share of luxury hotels for conferences, Mister Plastic Surgeon," Lexie pointed out. Mark looked over at her, shooting her a glare even as his hand wound around hers and their fingers interlaced.

"Yeah, but you weren't about to catch me dropping close to 450 a night on a hotel room for a conference I didn't even care much for anyways. A bed's a bed, Lex."

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" April asked as she pulled the suitcase out of the trunk, the driver slamming it back to a close. Her eyebrows drew up as she locked eyes with Mark, cocking her head to the sight.

Mark simply shook his head. "One of these days, Kepner, you will appreciate me."

Her lips drew into a thin smile as she walked past him. "That day, unfortunately for you, is not today."

Mark hadn't been wrong, necessarily. Grosvenor House Hotel was one of the nicest hotels she'd stepped foot into in her whole life, the lobby all white and the chandelier catching her eye the second she crossed over the threshold. It put the Holiday Inns she'd stayed in all her life to a damn shame. And compared to all they'd seen today, and it hadn't been much seeing as how the jet-lag was eating at Lexie and April both and they'd had to rework all their plans last minute to fit this in, it was by far the highlight of their sight-seeing thus far.

"He said he was gonna meet you down here at one?" Lexie asked as April took a seat in one of the chairs out of the way, rolling the suitcase up by one of the sides. April nodded, Lexie glancing down at her watch. "It's about five 'til; Mark always gets us the slow drivers."

Mark scoffed, shaking his head as he leaned up against a pillar and pulled his phone from his back pocket to start sifting through his emails to kill time.

Lexie started off standing next to April, which lasted about five minutes before she took up refuge perching on the armrest of the chair. April watched as people passed through, her chin resting on Lexie's arm as they waited. Every passing male she figured was Jackson Avery, until they kept walking right on by. She glanced down at Lexie's watch every few moments, watching as the minute hand ticked right past the twelve and grew closer and closer to the two. She had no idea what this guy looked like, hadn't heard from him since their phone call last night; hell, she wasn't even sure she'd be able to pinpoint his voice in person. All she knew was that he was running late, and she just wanted to get her journal back so they could continue their day of somewhat touring around before Lexie and April caved in to their exhaustion.

She'd almost started to give up hope when she glanced back over at the mouth of one of the hallways, a man in a three piece suit briskly walking in their direction with his eyes fixed on what she assumed was a watch. April jumped up, ready to say something, but Mark of all people beat her to the punchline.

"Holy shit, Jackson _Avery?_ "

Three-Piece Suit looked up to see Mark, immediately breaking out into a grin. "You've gotta be kidding me," he laughed, shaking his head as he met Mark in the middle, the two of them embracing in a handshake-turned hug. "What is Mark Sloan doing in _London_ of all places, don't you have bodies to reconstruct?"

Mark shook his head, tucking his phone into his back pocket. "I'm busy playing tour guide slash bodyguard slash honeymooning boyfriend."

"That third role is an exaggeration, Mark Sloan doesn't know how to hold a woman down as far as I'm concerned."

"I'm nothing if not a man of surprises, Avery."

Lexie and April, meanwhile, were exchanging puzzled glances with one another, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. It was then that the other man, blue eyes that put even Mark's to shame and stubble on his face stepped forward, hand extended in their direction but falling in the middle, unclear of who was who. "Jackson Avery," he introduced.

Lexie moved out of the way, April leaning over the raised suitcase handle to take his hand and shake it. She'd never understood what it was with men with blue eyes, certainly had never understood it when Lexie talked about it, but it was like those eyes were piercing straight through her and leaving holes. "Uh...April Kepner," she replied, cheering up almost immediately and offering a smile. "Nice to meet you in person."

"Likewise," he said, glancing back over at Mark before seeing the almost duplicated look of confusion on the girls' face. His eyes locked with Mark's again, tilting his head in their direction, when the light bulb suddenly came on over Mark's head.

"Oh!" Mark exclaimed, facing the girls. "Back before I got into the whole private practice shebang, I was still teaching the youth of tomorrow all my tricks and trades. Avery here was the only one I trusted with them. Kind of my protégé, I suppose." He clapped a hand down on Jackson's shoulder, grinning. "We were the Plastics Posse down at Pres, kicking surgical ass and taking names. Up until this kid here passed his boards and ran off down to Tulane, left me in the bitter wind."

"Looks like the bitter wind and all failed to mention that he knew me, I take it?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah," Lexie muttered through gritted teeth. "Well, you'd think you'd remember your protégé's name being the exact same as the one who's tied to this whole mess, but I suppose it slips through even the best of us." April tried to swallow her laughs; Lexie pissed at Mark was never a good thing for him, but served as rather quality entertainment for her. "Bitter wind and all."

April was nothing if not good at reading people, and if she was even remotely correct, Mark was no longer going to be sleeping in a bed for the rest of their trip.

* * *

 **Let the record show that I did say that _April_ and Jackson didn't know each other, I didn't say anything about anyone else knowing him, perhaps! I hope you're all enjoying so far; next chapter's going to be quite the fun one I have to say. I could have gone on, certainly, but I wanted to go ahead and cut it off here at risk of things accidentally running over into what I've got planned for the next chapter, so you can definitely expect a pretty long one next time. And in the meantime if you need a little something to tide you over, go check out my other Grey's fanfic, Coup de Gr** **â** **ce! Slexie, hints of Japril...fun for the whole family. xo**


	4. Drinks

**Hi friends! Time for another fun update of this story; we're picking right back up where we left off last time since this was technically supposed to be a part of chapter three, but I decided I'd make you wait for it. I know, I'm phenomenal. Usual disclaimers apply, it's a damn shame I own nothing, and pretty please leave a review on your way out! Enjoy the beginnings of the Japril madness. Wink.**

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

 _"So let me know the truth, before I dive right into you." —_ _ **Dive, Ed Sheeran**_

Lexie was busy burning holes in Mark's skull about the bitter winds of forgetfulness when Jackson finally cleared his throat in attempt to clear the silence. "Uh, so April," he spoke up, eyes darting over at her. "Your stuff is upstairs in my room, couldn't exactly bring it with me down to the conference." He motioned back in the direction of the same way he'd came.

"Shall we?"

From beside her, Lexie had now thrown the Mark debacle swirling like an angry storm cloud in her mind to the bitter winds themselves, a strangled sort of laugh catching in her throat. For whatever reason, this was _amusing_ to her, and April both wanted to elbow her in the chest and simultaneously demand to know why she found that so amusing. The words didn't have the chance to come out as Mark reached over to usher her along with Jackson. She stumbled a little, gathering her composure quickly and trying to swallow any of the embarrassment that had risen into her cheeks.

Jackson offered her a thin-lipped smile, his hand extended out to let her lead the way. April swore that as the two of them walked off, she could hear Mark's laugh ringing out through the lobby.

She stayed in the lead up until they rounded the corner and were officially out of Lexie and Mark's range of sight, a fortunate thing as far as she was concerned. April stepped off to the side, letting Jackson take her place since she wasn't quite sure where to go from there. He stepped past her, pressing his lips down in what she thought resembled something like a smile. Even the hallways were enough to catch her breath; this wasn't by any means the hotels they had booked along their trip and she found herself more captivated by the chandeliers along the ceiling than she was where she was walking. April hadn't even noticed Jackson had stopped walking until she nearly collided into him at full force.

"Oh—uh, sorry," she stammered out, nervous smile as her eyes met his again. Her heart was erratic beating inside of her chest.

"It's, _no_ ," was Jackson's equally apprehensive response, shaking his head. "You're fine."

She watched as he reached out, pressing the up button on the elevator and it lighting up orange underneath his finger. Things fell quiet, an awkward silence since neither of them knew what to say to the other. Jackson shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks, rocking back on his heels as he and April both had their heads cast up looking at the monitor that was counting down the floors until it made theirs.

"So, you're a surgeon?" April finally asked.

Jackson glanced over at her for a split second, nodding. "I am, yeah."

A small laugh pushed from April's throat. "I always thought I was going to be a doctor when I was a kid," she said. "Lasted about three semesters in college. Me and Lexie both decided it wasn't for us."

"What do you do now?" he inquired as the doors of the elevator parted.

April took a quick glimpse in his direction before she started into the elevator. "I graduated with a degree in mass communications."

He followed after her, giving her space to get both her and his suitcase settled against the wall of the elevator. "Mass communications," he repeated. "That's...um, that's nice. Do you work for a news company or something?"

She shook her head. "Unemployed, actually," she admitted, wincing.

"Oh," Jackson said, eyebrows raising as he pressed the button on the panel next to the 7. She could see it written there on his face that he was unsure of how he was supposed to respond to that question. He fell silent again, hands falling back by his sides and his eyes keeping far away from anywhere she was. The entire situation was a particular discomfort, and he was under the impression he'd only made it that much worse.

After what felt like an eternity of silence and steadily moving upwards, April felt the jolt of the floor underneath them as a signal of their arrival. The doors peeled back again, Jackson swiveling around before he made any move to get out.

"I can take that," he offered, pointing down at his suitcase. "You've had to carry around someone else's luggage long enough."

For whatever reasons, she hesitated for a brief moment before realizing he was right, and she had no reason to be holding onto the handle as though it was some sort of lifeline. She relinquished it, her hands quickly falling to her sides as he took it from her and exited the elevator. She followed, at a safe distance as he made his way through the halls to wherever his room was. Behind her back, she was tugging and pulling at her hands, the anxiety growing in her chest the closer and closer she got to her stuff. Her notebook, the missing puzzle piece of her sanity.

Jackson finally stopped in front of one of the identical doors with a golden '729' on it, drawing the key card from his pocket and swiping it through in one fluid motion. He pushed down on the door handle, starting in before he realized April was standing off on the wall, not moving. "You can come inside," he said. "Nothing in here you're not allowed to see."

His features were soft as he spoke, April feeling the heat beginning to rise in her cheeks as she trailed behind him inside. She was careful not to shut the door all of the way as she stepped inside, Jackson continuing on to more than likely go fetch her belongings.

"This is...nice," she complimented, rubbing at the back of her neck, knowing that that was certainly an understatement. "I mean, I'm sure being here for a medical conference doesn't hurt."

He glanced up, having walked around to the opposite side of the bed where she could see her suitcase was propped up against one of the chairs next to the coffee table. "It is. It's just a bed though, I don't really ever pay much attention to the rest of this stuff." He paused for a moment. "Well, except for the room service menu and mini fridge. I do utilize those."

"I believe this belongs to you," Jackson said, walking out from behind his bed with her suitcase in tow. He rolled it up in front of her, hands folding behind his back as he let go and let her have at it. "And I didn't go through any of your stuff, don't worry."

"Yeah...um, I didn't quite figure out that I had your stuff until I accidentally found—" April shook her head. "You know what? Don't worry about it. Everything's where it was in yours. _Everything."_ She didn't go much farther than that, out of fear of her face catching flames just having to recall that memory.

Having her own belongings back in her grasp was a wave of relief that had crashed into her, most of her nerves having subsided. The ride back downstairs was easy; this had been just as simple as she'd prayed it would be, and if Lexie could keep Mark quiet long enough they'd still have time to make it to the London Eye before dinner.

April turned the corner back into the lobby, where she saw both Mark and Lexie sitting down in the chair she'd previously occupied. Lexie was sitting on Mark's lap, the two of them looking at something on her phone with their heads pressed together. They were so immersed in the conversation—and one another—that it was as though the rest of the world didn't exist to them. The two of them, as annoyingly disgusting as they could be, made a picturesque couple and there was no denying that.

Lexie, however, was much more aware of her surroundings even when she was swept up in the world of Mark, head lifting only for a moment when she spotted April. She sprung up from Mark's lap, meeting her halfway. "Did you get everything?" she asked. April nodded.

Mark had also left his seat, joining the three of them and sidling up to Jackson. _So much for the London Eye,_ April thought to herself.

"So, Avery," Mark began, clapping his hand down on Jackson's shoulder. "How long are you in town for?"

"My flight leaves tomorrow evening," he replied, awkwardly bending under the force of Mark's hand.

"Are you going back to work?" Jackson shook his head.

"Nah, I've got the next week and a half off. Decided to cash in a few vacation days after I wear off from the jet lag and everything," he said, before rectifying his statement. "Well, they told me if I didn't take a few days they were going to have to ban me from the OR. Apparently there's such a thing as working too much."

"Nice to know you haven't forgotten how you were raised," Mark beamed. The look on Mark's face was the very thing that all bad ideas themselves feared. "But you know, if you've got the next little bit off, you should hang around and stay with us."

"I'm sorry, _what_?"

"Have you lost your mind?"

April and Lexie both spluttered the first thing that came to their minds simultaneously, twin expressions of sheer shock on their faces as they stared at Mark. Jackson was visibly uncomfortable now, trying not to shrink under the weight of Mark's hand on his shoulder and duck out at the last minute. Meanwhile, Mark was sound in his decision. "Yeah," he replied, having convinced himself of his supposed genius idea in two seconds flat and now trying to recruit the girls. "There's plenty of room for Avery, it'll be even more fun. I'll have someone to occupy me if you and Kepner ever want to break off and go do your touristy shit by yourself, it's perfect."

It was clear on Jackson's face that the conversation had taken a drastic left turn, one that he was about as keen on as April and Lexie were. "Mark, you don't have to—"

"Where's he going to sleep, Mark?" Lexie asked, her voice strained.

Mark shrugged. "He can sleep with Kepner."

April nearly choked, almost dropping her suitcase handle. "I'm—"

Lexie came to her rescue before she had the chance to utter out anything, granting her brain let her. "He can sleep with _you_ , you mean," she corrected. "Your friend."

Again, Jackson was trying to intervene and change Mark's already made-up mind. "Sloan, seriously man, we can meet up sometime when you guys get home; I really don't want to impose on your trip."

"Nonsense!"

"That's _exactly_ what you're speaking," Lexie bit back.

"Oh, come on Lex," Mark groaned. "It's fate. You and Kepner over there are big believers in fate."

April raised her hand slowly. "Actually, I believe in divine intervention but...I guess kinda it's the same thing."

Mark motioned in her direction, giving Lexie a pointed look. "If Saint Kepner agrees—"

"—never said that—"

" _C'mon_ , Lex. He was my mini me when I was still at Pres."

"Mark Sloan, if we ever enter a world where _two_ of you exist, I'd have to jump off a bridge in order to keep my sanity in tact," Lexie swore. Mark rolled his eyes.

"You are the biggest drama queen I have ever met in my life."

"Wanna bet? I'm not having sex with you for a _week_ ," she promised, folding her arms over her chest. Mark stared at her, jaw falling slightly agape. Lexie simply shook her head in reply, pursing her lips together. "You weren't supposed to be on this girls trip anyways, and now here you are pulling strays."

One of Mark's eyebrows lifted. "Is this you saying yes?"

Lexie glanced over at April for her consent, who could only shrug complacently in reply. The trip had already been shot to hell anyways, going with the flow at this point was all she could do unless she _wanted_ for it to backfire. At the very least, it'd make for great writing material, and seeing Mark and Lexie bicker was always quite the entertainment.

They wouldn't see Jackson again until after his conference wrapped up the next day, Mark having to bribe the lady down at the front desk of their own hotel to keep their room for an extra night as they'd gotten pushed back a little on schedule. He'd met them at their hotel, a significant step down from Grosvenor House as far as April was concerned before they'd gone out for the evening, Mark insisting upon a night out at a pub as their something low-key before the drive to their next stop in the morning.

Mark went downstairs to watch for Jackson, while Lexie and April finished getting ready in the tiny bathroom. April was sitting on the closed toilet, Lexie perched on top of the sink with both of her feet stationed on either side of April to hold her in place. She was finishing up her handiwork on April's eyeliner; Lexie always loved to use April as a blank canvas whenever the time called for either of them to wear makeup, and April had long since figured out it was best to let her do as she pleased. There'd only been one occasion, really, where it had been disastrous.

Lexie's lips had parted into an 'O' as she went about her work, April staring up at the ceiling and trying not to move any at risk of possibly going blind. "Do you think this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Absolutely not," Lexie said without hesitation. "Any idea that comes out of my boyfriend's mind is never a good one. Do you not remember when he tried to surprise us by decorating the apartment for Christmas?"

April blinked twice as Lexie moved the pencil away from her face for a moment, taking another glimpse at her handiwork. "He almost set our apartment on fire."

"My point exactly."

She pressed both of her lips together, watching as Lexie twisted her body around and reached into the sink for where she'd dumped out all of the makeup she'd brought, searching for something. "I mean, I think Jackson seems nice, don't you?"

Lexie turned back around, tube of lip gloss in her hands. "Yeah," she conceded. "He seems nice. Then again, Kep, you and I have different ideas of what constitutes as nice." She twisted the cap off, holding up the wand as she shrugged. "Look at who Mark was when I met him."

Well, she certainly made a point.

"I don't know, though," Lexie continued, motioning for April to pucker her lips. "I mean, out of all of us, I've been around him the least. So I guess I'm just kinda going off of what you have to say."

"And all the praises Mark keeps singing," April added. Lexie rolled her eyes.

"That man's the very one who paves all the roads to hell with those good intentions of his," she muttered. She capped the lip gloss back once she was finished, leaning away from April carefully to ensue she herself didn't fall into the sink. "You look like a dream, Kep."

"I wouldn't without any of your help." Lexie frowned at that, reaching behind April's back and pulling her hair forward, twirling it a little.

"Stop it, you're _always_ pretty, even without my experimenting." She retracted her feet, spinning around on the sink and leaping down. "Now come on, the boys will be back up here any minute." April took the hand Lexie had extended to her, pulling herself up.

Right about the time Lexie and April had made it out into the small living area, voices were coming from the other side of the door. They only got louder when the sound of the key in the door clicked, Mark pushing the door open. April glanced over as she slipped her sweater on, the two of them all smiles and laughing as they came walking in.

"Hi ladies," Mark sang as he pressed himself up against the door and letting Jackson walk in. "We're back."

"I've got eyes, Mark," Lexie informed him dryly, glancing up from putting her shoes on only to shoot him a look.

"Don't mind her, she's still being hostile. You can go put your stuff in my room, Avery, it's the one on the other side of the bathroom." He sent Jackson on his way, patting him on the back as he ushered him in the right direction. His face twisted up as he passed, scowling at Lexie, even though she didn't pay him any attention.

Seeing the two of them at each other's throats, even over some of the most trivial things was always amusing on April's behalf. Lexie and Mark were certainly different people on all accounts, and the fact that they even made it work at all sometimes baffled her. It was moments like these that reminded her Lexie's luck would never allow her to have any sort of perfect relationship, and that so long as Mark Sloan was involved, things were always apt to flip on their heads at any given moment.

"Kepner, you look nice," he complimented as he walked over, leaning up against the back of a chair slid up to the edge of their small dining room table. "You should wear your hair down like that more often."

"Uh...thanks," April muttered.

Jackson came back out of what had been Mark and Lexie's bedroom, and now was only inhabited by Mark. Lexie had ceremoniously moved all of her belongings into April's bedroom the night after April had gotten her luggage back, and while April didn't mind her friend's presence in her room, it made it a lot harder to write in bed with Lexie snuggled up to her like she was a human body pillow. He was dressed down compared to the last time she'd seen him, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. Even in a suit, she noticed, his eyes were still his defining feature. They looked more green today.

He smiled when he caught her staring, and she could feel the goofy grin start to etch itself over her lips. "Hey, April," he said, a small wave following.

"Hi."

"Alright kids, who's ready to go get wasted?" Mark announced, clapping his hands together after throwing his leather jacket over his shoulder.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Lexie groaned.

He winked at her, retreating back towards the door. "Among other things."

She rolled her eyes, walking straight out of the door he'd opened and not bothering to wait up for him or anyone else.

They hailed a cab out front; Lexie, April, and Jackson all cramming themselves in the back seat while Mark, once again, hopped up front despite it being permissible or not. April found herself in the unfortunate position of the middle seat, awkwardly trying to give Jackson his space without sitting entirely in Lexie's lap at the same time. Mark knew exactly what pub they were headed to, giving their driver the name of the place and they were off.

Mark talked the whole way there, to their driver, to Jackson, even to himself on occasion, and in April's mind, it was a miracle the driver didn't stop in the middle of the road and let Mark out to walk the rest of the way. Lexie had her arm tightly wound around April's, rolling her eyes and mumbling under her breath every couple of comments he made. If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that Lexie was ridiculously loyal to April, almost to a fault. The fault here was that if Mark wasn't careful, Lexie was going to push him out in front of a car and not think twice.

She understood where Lexie's agitation derived from, the fact that April had been hesitant enough about letting Mark accompany them on what was supposed to be their trip and now Mark was doing as he pleased, and she appreciated it. Perhaps took a little too much pleasure from it, sure, but she still appreciated it, even though she'd let go of this trip ever going her way the minute she pulled out condoms instead of her notebook.

They arrived at the pub, both Jackson and Lexie exiting from their respective sides and leaving April in the middle with her pick of the trade. She shot a grateful smile in Jackson's direction before following after Lexie.

Jackson held the door open for all of them as they walked inside, falling in line behind April. Mark, who had taken the lead, was already beelining off to an empty table tucked away along the wall. "Thanks," she told Jackson, looking over her shoulder at him and giving him a smile.

"What?" The live music that was blaring out throughout the pub was conveniently located right next to the entrance, making it hard to hear anything.

She threw her thumb over her shoulder. "The door. Thanks for holding it."

"Oh, yeah. No problem," he replied, rubbing at the back of his neck. She could see it on his face, him finding it a little odd at her explicitly thanking him for just holding the door open for her, but it was how she'd been raised. You treat people the way you'd want them to treat you, and you be appreciative when someone does something nice for you.

"First round of drinks is on Lexie," Mark announced to the group devilishly, as Jackson and April sat down at the table Mark had gotten for them, April sliding into the seat next to her best friend. Lexie sat up a little straighter, removing her head from where she'd had it propped on her fist, eyebrows furrowing together. He pulled out his wallet, opening it enough to flash that he'd swiped her card at some point in time.

"You little—"

The smile on Mark's face was a goddamn sin. "Love you too, baby." Before she could lunge over the table, he darted off in direction of the bar.

"I...hate him," Lexie sputtered furiously, sulking back into her seat. April could only reach out and pat her shoulder reassuringly.

"There, there," she muttered apathetically.

"How did you deal with him through your _whole_ residency?" Lexie asked, leaning across the table and dragging Jackson into the conversation.

He simply shrugged. "Same way you dealt with him enough to sleep with him for the last three years of your life."

Lexie frowned. "Touché."

Mark returned a few moments later, trying to balance all four beers without spilling them on himself or anyone else. "Alright, drinks are here! Thanks Lex," he deliberately said, winking at her.

"Die," she spat at him, snatching a beer out of his hand before he had the chance to set them on the table and back away.

Jackson's eyes widened a little, both eyebrows hitting his hairline. "You two sure are an interesting couple," he commented dryly. April snorted, Lexie downed nearly half of her beer in one go, and Mark just threw his arm around Jackson.

"So Avery, tell me about everything I've missed out on. How's Tulane?" Mark asked.

"It's, um, well it's Tulane. New Orleans isn't New York by any means, but it's pretty fun; the night life is always busy which means I'm always going to have a job in plastics. And there's Mardi Gras to look forward to whenever we get to our rotation to go out and celebrate instead of working shift."

"That's my boy!" Mark exclaimed, looking over at Lexie pointedly. "See, I keep telling you we ought to go to Mardi Gras."

"You just want an excuse to _party_. You're—"

"Don't you dare say it," he warned, while Lexie mouthed the words ' _almost forty_ ' at him. "I still know how to have fun, unlike you, Grandma."

Both of Lexie's eyebrows went shooting up towards her scalp. "I'm no fun?"

"O- _kay_ ," April sang, intervening while she had the chance and locked her elbow around Lexie's arm. She rested her head on Lexie's shoulder, batting her eyes. "We're in London. Drink, stop bitching. _Please_."

Lexie rolled her eyes as she brought her beer back up to her lips, and Mark simply kept going with his conversation with Jackson.

That was how it went for the next half hour; Lexie and April immersed in their own little conversation while they scrolled away on their phones and Mark and Jackson talking about suturing techniques. Occasionally, they'd mix and talk among the four of them for a few seconds before splitting back off, April's eyes meeting Jackson's every so often as they both found themselves wandering away. She wondered what was going on inside of his head, if he had any idea what he'd signed up for.

April knew she had the lowest tolerance out of Lexie and Mark, that much wasn't a secret. Lexie could usually keep up with Mark while leaving April off in the dust after a few drinks. The two of them had each only gone through one and a half beers before Lexie was in Mark's lap leaving no room for Jesus or anything else in between them, her back pressed up against the wall as they made out, giggling like a bunch of teenagers as Mark's hand made its way up her shirt. No wonder he'd gotten a table at the very back corner of the joint. He knew how this was all going to play out: the two of them had always been something like a hurricane once they really got comfortable with one another.

"I'm uh, going to go get another drink," April said to absolutely no one, seeing as how Mark and Lexie weren't paying them any attention. Jackson seemed to be just as uncomfortable as she was, was quick to jump up.

"I'll go with you."

They walked up to the bar together, the both of them eager to get away from Lexie and Mark's obscene amount of PDA. April knew it was only a matter of time before it'd come to the two of them abandoning their posts of firing at one another. She leaned up against the counter, glancing around to see where the bartender had vanished off to. "Another Guiness," she requested after catching his attention.

"Same thing," Jackson chimed in from behind her before the bartender disappeared from sight once again.

April spun back around slowly, arms crossing. "Not what you had expected when you signed up to tag along on this trip, huh?" she asked.

"Not entirely, no. But it's Mark, it kind of comes with the territory."

"Makes sense," she replied.

"I'm guessing the two of them can't really stay mad at each other for long," Jackson pointed out, both he and April watching the two of them. Only the bartender sliding both of their drinks across the counter in their direction tore them away from watching the sight, him giving them a firm nod before he went back to tending to the rest of his customers. They went back to looking at Lexie and Mark, April now unable to tell where one ended and the other began.

April's face twisted up. "Not really, no. Kinda disappointing, they're more fun when they're at each other's throats and not... _down_ one another's throats." She sighed. "You any good at darts?" she offered, shrugging.

"I'm okay," he replied. "But it sounds like a lot more fun than watching the two of them make out."

"Agreed." April grabbed her beer from off the bar top as she and Jackson made their way over to the dartboard up on the wall on the opposite side of the bar. She knew Lexie and Mark wouldn't have even noticed they'd disappeared, and it was probably a good thing that they'd distanced themselves from the couple. It was only a matter of time now before they headed off for the bathroom hand in hand.

"So, how'd you meet Lexie? I'm assuming that's how you met Mark," Jackson reasoned as he moved to grab the abandoned stack of darts at the table nearest the board.

"Oh, what? Do I not look like Sloan's type?" April asked, head tilting to the side as she sat her drink down on an empty table nearby. Jackson turned around, lifting both of his hands in mock arrest.

"Hey, you said it, not me."

"You're right," she admitted after a moment, cupping her hands as Jackson extended his fist balled up with the darts over them. He gave her three to start with, and she sat them down next to her drink. "We're not much of each other's type. Besides, the first time I met him he was using my shower, and that first and last glimpse of all of Mark Sloan was enough to scar me for life."

Jackson chuckled at that. "You wanna go first or me?" April gestured out towards him, giving him the floor.

She leaned up against the table, both arms folded over her chest as she watched him. "Did you voluntarily become Mark's protégé or did he rope you into it?"

"What do you think?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder before throwing the first dart. "'Course he roped me into it. My mother wanted me to follow in her footsteps, go into _urology_. I was kind of grateful he snatched me too; the only person more stubborn than Catherine Avery is Sloan." He threw another dart as emphasis, it landing a little closer to the bulls-eye than the last one had. He had pretty decent aim.

"And _you_ never answered my question," he reminded her as he threw his last dart onto the board, hitting closer to his second try than his first. "How'd you meet Lexie?"

April walked around him, her set of darts in hand. He moved off to the side, back against the wall as he took another drink of his beer. "Lexie and I were roommates our sophomore year of college; we were Myspace friends and—"

"Myspace? Damn."

She gave him a look, before focusing her attention back on the dartboard. "We were Myspace friends and she'd posted something about looking for a roommate spring semester. My roommate was transferring, and I'd recognized Lexie from one of our generic university courses; it was hard _not_ to recognize her, really. She was pretty popular, played softball and everything. We met up a few times for coffee and decided we'd go for it since we were both med majors, and the rest is history. Literally."

"What does Lexie do now?"

"She majored with a degree in political science, she's done all kinds of different over the last four and a half years." She shrugged, throwing two darts in a row at the board. "She's always been the most versatile of the both of us. I've never known the girl to keep a hairstyle for longer than six months."

"A hairstyle?" Jackson repeated.

"In the nine years I've known her, she's been blonde four times. Every single time she does it, she immediately regrets it and wants to go back darker, and I have to remind her that she can't use the whole 'it doesn't look right' excuse anymore. Then there was that time she cut her bangs. And then cut all her hair off. Like I said, Lexie's definitely the most versatile."

"I don't know," Jackson said, rolling his shoulders in a shrug as April lined up her last dart before throwing. "I think the red hair can be pretty versatile."

"You do know what versatile means, right?" she asked, eyebrows furrowing together as she moved out of his way so he could start his next turn.

"Well I had to get into medical school somehow, Kepner."

They did another three rounds after that, the two of them languidly throwing darts in the middle of their conversations. Jackson asked April about what drew her to mass comms after wanting to be a doctor for so long, and she implored more on what medical school was like just to reaffirm that she'd been smart in getting out when she had. College talk morphed into job talk, job talk evolved into talk about the little things in life, like if April was really a natural redhead (she wasn't) or where Jackson got his blue-green eyes from (his father). Lexie and Mark and their borderline encounters in indecent exposure were long forgotten, up until April realized she was empty and glanced back over in the direction of the bar. Of course, Lexie and Mark were still necking like a bunch of horny teenagers, and they were starting to draw a few more looks than they had to begin with.

"I think the two of them are done for the evening," April noted.

"We probably need to get them out of here."

April looked over at Jackson, one of her eyebrows quirking in response. "Well the only thing prying them off of one another is the jaws of life, so yeah."

Getting Lexie off of Mark long enough to tell them that they were calling a cab and heading back to the hotel room proved a little bit of a struggle—out of the three of them, April definitely didn't have the arm strength on either—and April had to walk behind the incredibly touchy pair to make sure they kept walking towards the exit. Jackson had gone outside ahead of time to flag down a cab, both Mark and Lexie tumbling in gleefully and laughing as their hands started to roam once again. April went to follow after them when Jackson stopped her.

"You sit up front," he told her, motioning towards the door.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Because they're going to make out the whole way there, I know, and they're obviously a bit much and I've unfortunately dealt with it before so I can—"

One of Jackson's hands came down on her shoulder, stopping her mid-ramble. "It's okay. Sit up front."

She felt bad for abandoning Jackson in the backseat; she wanted nothing more than to turn around and continue their conversation, which she'd been enjoying despite the fact only a few hours ago he'd still been the mystery guy who had possession of her luggage that she wanted to see long enough to get rid of his things, but she was hesitant at what she might see in the process. Every so often, she'd catch Jackson's eyes in the rearview mirror, shooting him apologetic smiles the whole way.

Mark and Lexie were long gone by the time Jackson and April had barely stepped foot out of the cab, the two of them more than likely racing back to Mark's bedroom before either of them had the chance to see anything that wasn't necessary.

"You know, I had fun tonight kicking your ass at darts," Jackson noted as they made their way for the stairs in a languid fashion, in absolutely no hurry to embark back upstairs.

April scoffed. "Who says you won?"

"The numbers don't lie."

"Oh, whatever." She paused for a moment, still ascending up the stairs slowly. "I had fun _letting_ you kick my ass tonight," she said, launching into a full-blown explanation she hadn't even intended on letting fall off her tongue. "Mark and Lexie always try not to get like that too much whenever I'm around, because we're all friends and Lexie really feels bad whenever she thinks she's made me feel like the third wheel but sometimes they get a little swept away." April kept shuffling along, looking over her shoulder at Jackson. "I don't know, it's just nice having someone to third-wheel with me."

Jackson was smiling by the time they reached their floor; it was genuine, but there was still the trace of mischief lingering. "So you admit that I beat you."

"I believe I used the word _letting_ in that sentence," April reminded him, swinging the door open.

As they made their way down the hall, April could see that the room to their suite was the one that was kicked wide open, and she sighed internally at the sight upon arrival. She didn't even have to glance down the hall inside to know that there'd be both a tie on Mark's bedroom door and another tie on the bathroom door that lead into their bedroom.

Jackson followed in behind her, closing the door. She hadn't moved very far, still staring at the blue and grey tie hanging around the door handle. "Everything okay?" he asked quietly.

April scratched behind her ear, turning around. "Um, kind of, it's just...well, if the two of them are in there..." she trailed off, hoping he'd get the hint. She watched as his face fell a little.

"They're probably not coming out again tonight for Lexie to switch beds." April nodded. "That's fine, I can take the couch."

April glanced over at the tiny, pathetic excuse of a chair that the hotel had deemed a couch, frowning. "That's not even a couch, it's more like an armchair. You can't sleep on that, not if we're still leaving tomorrow." She paused, and then the words came flying out of her mouth before she could even contemplate what they meant in her mind. "You can just sleep in my room."

His eyes threatened to leap from his skull. "Are...are you sure, April? I mean, that's...you really don't have to, I can sleep over there," he whispered. "It's fine, I promise."

"I'll sleep better at night knowing that you're not forever going to have back problems because of Mark and Lexie's inability to keep their hands off one another." From the depths of Mark's bedroom, someone—Lexie, probably—laughed.

Jackson followed behind her tentatively into her bedroom, still choosing to lurk by the door as April went around to the nightstand and fetched her pajamas from the night before. "I'm serious, April, you don't have to do this—I mean, you barely know me."

April's head shot up, red hair flying in her face. He certainly made a point, and she was all about to agree with him up until she hear rather concerning noises from Mark's bedroom. She shook her head, tucking the ball of clothing underneath her arms. "I'm uh, gonna go change. Brush my teeth. Make yourself comfortable, I guess," she said before darting off into the bathroom.

Was this a bad idea, just as Jackson himself had reiterated? Yes, of course. She'd never hear the end of it from Lexie the next morning—"April Kepner, you slept with a strange man in your bed? Who are you and what have you done with the _real_ April?"—and Mark would be all too pleased to join in on the teasing, no doubt. She'd only ever been kissed three times in her life, and all of her promises that she made to God when she was a young child still stood firm. Sharing a bed with a man, a man she barely knew at that, was probably the worst idea she'd ever had in her life. But she felt bad; bad because Jackson had gotten roped into this world without any warnings, bad because Lexie and Mark couldn't stay mad at one another long enough for her to at least learn Jackson's middle name before sharing any close proximity of space with him, bad because one look at that armchair even made her lumbar region ache. It was a war over being virtuous April over generous April, and generous April _always_ won.

Sure enough, after she'd finished brushing her teeth, shimmying into her pajamas and tying her hair back, she'd all but talked herself into it. God, was this going to make a good entry for tomorrow's journal on the train ride.

She came out hesitantly, pushing the door slowly to make sure Jackson was decent. He'd sat down on the far edge of the bed, almost jumping up in alert once he realized she was standing there. April came out slowly, throwing the ball of her clothes into the open suitcase inside of the closet before she went about turning the sheets back.

Jackson, for whatever reason, had his eyes cast down towards the floor and was rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. "April—"

"No, it's fine," she automatically reassured him, throwing one of the pillows she'd stacked up on her side of the bed to where she'd already mapped out in her mind where Jackson was going to sleep. "You stay on your side, I stay on mine, it'll all be alright."

"That's..." He shook his head. "That wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to say I don't think I'm going to be able to go in Mark's room and get my pajamas, and I was going to ask you if it's okay if I. You know. Sleep without a shirt on." April glanced up at him, and he immediately launched into an explanation. "I mean, if you're not comfortable with it, that's totally fine, I get it, I just, these jeans are bad enough and I really don't want to have to take _those_ off if I can at all help it—"

"No," April cut him off, her voice an octave higher than normal. "No, that's, uh, that's okay." _Was it, April?_ She could hear her subconscious almost mocking her; her heart was the knot in her throat as she tried to keep otherwise idle body busy, moving around and making sure the entire bed was turned down.

She climbed on into bed, claiming her spot and feeling as though she'd just crawled into a coffin at the same time due to the rigidness of her body. She was trying not to watch Jackson, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt even though he'd simply just turned around to take his shirt off and throw it into the chair sitting next to the dresser. April nestled on down into the covers, reaching over for the lamp and switching hers off.

She kept her back to Jackson, heart hammering in her chest so hard she was terrified he could hear it. There was rustling from beside her, the bed dipping off to the side as he more than likely climbed in next to her. She was rock solid, a force of nature who was not going to tear her eyes off the closet doors for _anything._ "Goodnight, April," Jackson said, ripping through the awkward silence that had settled over them the same way April had burrowed under all of her blankets. His voice was right there, and she could already feel the heat radiating off of his body that was merely a few inches away. The bed seemed so much smaller with the two of them in it. When it had been Lexie sharing the space with her, it was spacious, and now April was scared if she moved even a hair she was accidentally going to touch him and make these even more uncomfortable.

"Goodnight, Jackson," she whispered, before clenching her eyes to begin her nightly prayers in her head, prayers she knew she was going to have to say quite a few more of for tonight.

The lights went out entirely as Jackson flipped his lamp off, and April's heart sank to her ankles.

* * *

 **A long overdue update, sure, but I made sure to make it up to you by making it a long one this time! Next chapter we won't be in London anymore, any guesses as to where our favorite foursome is off to next? First person who guesses right gets a shoutout in the A/N of next chapter, and if someone gets it right, I'll update just a little bit faster. The Japril burn has begun. See you guys back here real soon. xo**


	5. Risks

**You can all thank the end of the semester for this delay. So I have to make a small confession to you all: I didn't realize until Chapter Four had been up for a solid three and a half days that I'd gone and explicitly told you where they all go next so really, you should have gotten a freebie on that one! While my most creative guess goes to Melissa (I get the feeling you're going to continue picking really obscure places for your guesses and I can't wait, honestly), so7522 guessed correctly first! Although, can't really say it was a guess since my dumb ass literally gave it away. This chapter will be different, you'll have to _actually_ try this time! Hope you all are ready for this :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

 _"Saw you walk inside a bar, he said something to make you laugh; I saw that both your smiles were twice as wide as ours, yeah you look happier, you do." **— Happier, Ed Sheeran**_

"Can I _please_ wake them up?"

"No, let them sleep a little while longer. Besides, you're the reason they probably didn't get any sleep last night."

"Excuse me, I don't believe that I was the one screaming, ' _Fuck me, Mark!_ ' until two in the morning."

"You are _despicable_. And...and evil."

"Yeah, well, you said you did always like the bad boys."

A groan wedged its way from April's throat as she nestled further into her pillow, eyes daring to peek open at the sound of Mark and Lexie's voice. There the two of them stood in the light of the bathroom, shoulder to shoulder with their heads cocked and arms folded over their chests as they observed the sight in front of them. Mark had a smirk draped over his lips, all too pleased with how the situation had unfolded itself, and too busy caught up in his pride to be as attentive as Lexie was. She caught April's bleary staring before April had the chance to blink.

"Morning, sunshine," Lexie greeted nonchalantly. "Sleep good?"

Mark caught on, eyes drifting down to April as he grinned wickedly. "'Course she did."

Her arms were hooked underneath her pillow, and with a strangled noise leaving her throat, she rolled over on her side and threw the pillow in Mark's general direction. "Your fault," she grumbled. "You two were supposed to stay mad at each other for longer than 48 hours."

"Sorry to disappoint," Lexie replied. "I saved you some hot water in the shower, better get on in there before your friend wakes up and decides to strike."

April started to stir, rolling over carefully so she was on her back. Jackson had maintained his distance throughout the night and somehow still managed to be dead asleep in the midst of the floating conversation around him. She carded a hand through her hair as she slowly sat up, peeling the comforter off her gently. Lexie began to push Mark back towards the bathroom door to leave them alone, glancing briefly over her shoulder on her way out. "Oh, and Mark went and got coffee. It's his apology."

Somehow, April thoroughly doubted that was the case.

She delicately pulled herself out of bed, smoothing down the edges of her rolled up pajama shorts as she glanced over at Jackson. Still sound asleep, of course. April couldn't remember when exactly it was that she'd fallen asleep, only that she'd spent most of the time awake scared to so much as breathe in the rare case it would pull them closer together. She wanted to remain courteous, respectful April Kepner, despite the fact her heart was hammering in her chest the whole time. She'd rarely held a boy's hand before, and she'd gone straight from zero to one hundred sharing a bed with one.

Hell, if Jesus wasn't proud of her for being a good person for pushing through her comfort zone, she wasn't sure there was much more for him to be proud of.

Lazily, April dragged herself into the bathroom, closing the door behind her quietly. It was pretty early; they had a six hour train ride within the next couple of hours that was taking them to their next destination. This trip wasn't slowing down for any reason, even if it was taking her a second to gather her new bearings.

Reaching in and turning on the shower, she slipped out of her pajamas and stepped in, adjusting the curtain so it was touching pillar to post. She wasn't about to take any chances, even if it was just Lexie coming in to brush her teeth. Lexie hadn't been kidding about saving her _some_ hot water, either; April started to feel the temperature decline about the time she went to rinse the shampoo out of her hair. Something told her that Mark and Lexie had decided to save water and shower together.

She got out as quickly as she'd gotten in, feeling partially bad for Jackson if he was planning on a shower since all that was waiting for him was cold water. She stepped back into her pajamas, pulling her hair up into a towel turban long enough for her to brush her teeth in the slightly fogged up mirror. From under the door, she could smell coffee—store bought, no doubt—and all she wanted was to get dressed and get her _hands_ on a cup.

She'd been so consumed in towel-drying her hair as she walked back into the bedroom, she hadn't noticed that Jackson was already awake and roaming around on his half of the room. "'Morning," he greeted, promptly giving her a heart attack.

April jumped nearly ten feet in the air, clutching the towel tightly to her chest as she locked eyes with him. An amused sort of smirk draped over his lips. "Did I scare you?"

"Just a...yeah, just a little bit," April replied, trying to catch her breath. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

Jackson shook his head. "Nah, Mark came in here a few minutes ago to wake me up. Says we've got a train to catch in about an hour and a half."

"Oh," April said, nodding. She was still awkwardly holding the towel close to her chest, looking around for something else to bring into the conversation that was quickly dropping off into awkward silence. "Did you, uh, did you sleep okay?"

"Slept just fine. Did you?"

"Yeah, I did. Thanks," she muttered, somewhat awkwardly. "I um, I need to get dressed—"

Both of Jackson's hand lifted in mock arrest. "Room's all yours," he said quickly. "I'm off to go call dibs on one of those cups of coffee."

Jackson was quick to scurry out of her hair, and the minute he shut the door behind him, April let the towel fall from her hands and hit the floor.

Even as she pulled herself together, putting on a fresh pair of jeans and one of the old t-shirts she'd gotten for free at some event in college, her mind had merely hit the resume button on the racing trains of thought. Everything had drastically changed, and while she was a little more comfortable, it was still taking some getting used to. Nothing in the room smelled like the same standard issue hotel room or even her belongings, it was like she'd accidentally stepped into Jackson's bedroom at home. Sharing space with Lexie was one thing, hell, even sharing with Mark. But this, this was different and she didn't know how she felt about it. Personally, she was hoping that Mark and Lexie would go back to being pissed at one another so she wouldn't have to sleep stiff as a board every night on the trip.

Gathering up her towel, she made her way out of the bedroom and into the tiny living area, where Jackson and Mark were standing halfway in the kitchen and Lexie was sitting down at the small table.

"D'you have enough hot water, Kepner?" Mark asked. _Yep, they definitely showered together._

"Not enough, but more than I was expecting," April replied, plopping down next to Lexie. Lexie pushed her the spare cup in her direction, April gladly taking it. "By the way, I call dibs on Lexie on the train. You got her last night."

Immediately, Lexie perked up, back straightening out as she beamed over at Mark. "Will you two be dueling it out for my affections later on? Because if so, I'll need an advance so I have time to make popcorn and set up a seat."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Drink your girly coffee and keep it quiet, Grey."

"My loving and caring boyfriend," Lexie muttered, turning back to April. "Sorry about last night, by the way."

"It's whatever," April dismissed nonchalantly, picking up her coffee from the table as her eyes followed Mark and Jackson over to the couch where the TV was at. "You're welcome for last night, by the way. I probably warded off the two of you getting arrested for indecent exposure."

"Ready for stop number two?" Lexie ignored April's comment, rolling her eyes and moving right on ahead with the conversation. April shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee.

"If it's gonna go anything like this, I don't see how I can possibly be ready for it."

"When in London though, right?" One of Lexie's eyebrows lifted quizzically.

April only tilted her head in acknowledgement. _I don't think any of this is going to stay solely in London._

Amsterdam was the only contribution Mark had made to their trip, other than his presence and astonishing ability at roping in the strays. Lexie shot it down the minute it had come out of his mouth while they were planning; she had no desire to partake in what she called his 'lost frat boy dreams' and go to the red light district and the Heineken Experience on _her_ vacation. While April was in firm agreement with that, she couldn't help but to side with Mark in that Amsterdam wasn't a terrible idea. There was the Anne Frank house, Vondelpark, the _canals_ , to which she'd pulled up a plethora of pictures of on Google and pointed at while she batted her eyes.

Lexie, who wasn't one to like being outnumbered, protested that they'd see plenty of canals in Italy. She was fighting a losing battle at that point though, two votes and it was pretty much set in stone. Under her breath, she'd sworn that if she saw so much as the first prostitute, she was leaving Mark in a dark alleyway all alone and without his cell phone or wallet.

The sun shone through the window of their hotel room, April sitting at the small table with her notebook propped open in front of her. She hadn't had much time to write during the rest of their time in London and writing on the train would have been impossible if she didn't want for Mark's over-the-shoulder commentary or Jackson asking a dozen questions about it. She chewed on the end of her pen, eyes flitting over the last couple of lines she'd written.

The feel of someone coming up behind her and resting their chin on top of her head shook her from her thoughts, physically startling her. It was only Lexie of course, Lexie and her familiar perfume and the hotel shampoo embracing her in a hug. "I thought you were Mark trying to scare me," April admitted, exhaling in relief. "Or coming to see what I was doing."

Lexie waved her hand in dismissal. "Please, Mark doesn't know how to read. You writing something good?"

"Maybe," April replied. "I haven't decided yet."

She squeezed both of her arms, stepping away. "I'm sure it is. You've got a gift, Kep."

"Tell that to someone who wants to employ me."

"I'm telling you, April, you ought to say screw you to all the people who keep turning you away and start making money off your blog. It's what you're passionate about, it's what you _enjoy_ doing. Might as well have a job that doesn't feel much like work."

It wasn't a secret that Lexie was April's biggest cheerleader, always coaxing her to be a little less apprehensive about the world. Lexie had her hesitations, but if there was one of them that would easily cave first, it would be her. April's faith in the unknown only took her so deep in the water before she was ready to get out; Lexie constantly told her to make her own path, to carve herself a way if no one was offering one up. It was never a matter of wanting to, because she wanted to be bold, but her hands still shook whenever it came time to walk.

April sighed, leaning back in her chair as she rested her pen in the middle of the open book. "I don't know, Lex. I just...people reading my diary, essentially? Making money off that? I don't know."

"Well you don't have to make up your mind right now," Lexie pointed out. "We're on vacation, not job hunting. Worry about your life back home when we're actually at home. Later."

"What's later?"

Both April and Lexie's heads snapped up at the sound of a third voice entering their conversation, and asking questions at that. Mark knew better than to ask his way into their discussions, just inserted himself in without any sort of prelude, and when April glanced over her shoulder, she saw Jackson standing in the doorway of one of the bedrooms.

"Oh," April exclaimed, hastily shutting her notebook. "It's uh, nothing." To sell it, she plastered a falsely cheerful smile over her lips. "Are you and Mark ready?"

"I don't know about Mark, but I'm—"

"Mark is as ready as ready gets," Mark interrupted, sliding by Jackson to make his way over to Lexie. He draped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her in closer underneath his arm to even her surprise. "Although I'm _slightly_ disappointed we aren't going to—"

"We're not going to the damn Heineken Experience!" Lexie reminded him, her voice an octave higher than usual.

Vondelpark was without a doubt one of the prettiest places April had ever seen, and that deduction was only from the limited view Google Images had given her. Their car had dropped them off at the gate, the iron fence swung open and the sun's rays bouncing off the gold letters. Lexie already had her phone out, taking pictures like the painful sort of tourist they were, swatting at Mark's hand and forcing him to get a picture of both April and Lexie standing underneath it.

There wasn't much of a set agenda with Vondelpark other than to stroll through it and relax, admiring the beauty for what it was and enjoying something a little more lowkey than a lot of their other spots on the agenda. It was hard walking four in a line, April and Lexie both hooked arm in arm led the way while Mark and Jackson trailed along behind them discussing surgical techniques and other boring, medical speak.

April might as well have been strolling through a dream. _This_ was what this trip was about, her and Lexie conquering the world quite literally, and nothing could have ripped the smile off her face in that moment. Not even Mark interfering.

"Somebody's smiling a lot more," Lexie pointed out at one point during their walk. April looked over at her, eyebrows instantly knitting together. "You are. Look at you. Does it have anything to do with Jackson?"

Lexie made a face, leaning into April and nudging her in the ribs while laughing. "No, it is not because of _Jackson_ ," April denied heatedly. Her best friend, always the conspirator, even when there was nothing to conspire about. Besides, it was Lexie's fault anyways that Jackson was no longer a stranger. "Can't a girl be happy that she's roaming around in Amsterdam with her favorite, maniac of a best friend and that this is our life for the next few weeks?"

"I mean, you can, but I'm not entirely convinced by it," Lexie replied, grinning widely. "Something's going on with you, Kep, and I'm gonna figure it out."

"Good luck with that, seeing as how there's nothing to figure out."

Lexie merely winked. "Or so you tell me."

They'd stretched out by the pond after their walk, Lexie and Mark lying together while Lexie read through one of her books and Mark pretending to sleep, April in the middle of Lexie and Jackson. She'd laid down on her stomach, staring ahead at the pond with her pen in hand, tapping against her chin as she thought. Normally, words—no matter what they were—came easiest to her when she was at peace. She'd filled up half a page since they'd settled, most of it her trying to collect her thoughts since arriving to Europe and trying to catch up with the timeline since London. Mark and Lexie's spontaneity and drunkeness had gotten her a little off schedule, and she was determined to document as much of this trip as she could.

Jackson was sprawled out next to her, on his back as he sifted through his phone, more than likely his emails. Every so often, April could feel his eyes begin to burn through her back. She'd glance over her shoulder, offer him a smile when she caught him, and return back to staring at the lines until her eyes swam.

Time melted away easily, in the same nature that the sun did as it rolled off their shoulders the longer they stayed put. Mark seemed to actually be asleep, Lexie had made it halfway through her book, and April's brain was beginning to short-circuit. She was never in a place where she found herself at a shortage of words, and yet, nothing was seeming to come to her. She'd hit a road block ever since she'd gotten to the current time.

From behind her, she could hear Jackson moving. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing that he'd sat up and was leaning back, knees folded and resting on his hands. Right after shooting him the courtesy smile and preparing to go back to her giant block, Jackson caught her by speaking up. "If I ask you something, will you try to not get offended—or at least, if you _do_ get offended, just pretend I didn't?"

April's eyebrows furrowed together, looking at him with apprehension glittering in her eyes. "Go on..."

"What, uh," Jackson stopped to scratch at the back of his neck. "What were you and Lexie talking about this morning? In the living room?"

She exhaled through her nose, half-heartedly picking up her notebook and waving it around for a moment before setting it back down. "This thing. Or at least, what's in it."

It was Jackson's turn to give her a puzzled look. "I told you I was unemployed back when we met, right?" Jackson gave a quick nod, and April continued on. "I...write my own stuff to pass the time, it's the part of mass communications that I actually enjoyed the most. Why I went into it, really. And I have a blog where I sometimes put stuff from here onto there; the only people that I know read it are Lexie on her lunch break, and my mom. Lexie thinks I ought to just say screw finding a job, make my own."

"Why don't you?"

April now understood why Mark had befriended Jackson and Jackson hadn't broken underneath his influence. He reminded her a lot of Lexie; gentle and resilient, easy-going and yet tough as hell. Her lips pursed together as she pondered that. She couldn't give him the same reasons she'd given Lexie, because Lexie _knew_ her. Jackson was as good as a stranger. "I...I don't know, honestly. There's a lot more risks that outweigh the rewards, I guess. In my mind they do anyways." She shrugged.

Jackson leaned forward, arms resting on his kneecaps. "Risks. What are they?"

She pulled herself up a little more to swivel fully around and give him a look. He could apparently see the question brewing in her eyes, because he shook his head. "Come on. Risks, go."

April sighed, flopping back down on her elbows as she mulled it over for a second. "I'm practically selling my diary, to strangers. The only way it's a substantial lifestyle is when you have a wide audience, which I do not have nor do I think I'll ever garner..." She paused, tapping her pen against the page a few times. "I just don't find myself that interesting. I write to sort out everything in my head, not to wow people with my life experiences or shit; this trip is the most exciting that I've ever done. I have the discipline to do it, I just—"

"Ah, there you go," Jackson chimed in, smile tugging on the edges of his lips. "You just keep naming off reasons not to do it, even if it's a reason you'd be good at it. Give yourself some credit, Kepner, be _positive._ "

"I'll have you know I'm undoubtedly the most positive person I know," she retorted. Jackson merely quirked an eyebrow in response, a silent challenge to that statement. "Fine. I'm a good writer, and I'm self-disciplined, and I have the degree hanging on the wall that says I've got the capabilities of doing it."

"Then there you go. Do it."

April rolled her eyes. "Not that easy."

"Yes it is," Jackson fired back. "You know what isn't easy? Medical school. Residency under hot shot Sloan over there. All you're having to do is say yes to something that you _want_ , that you enjoy. You're just trying to dive too deeply into a shallow pool."

"You know, you ask me a lot of questions about me," April pointed out, steering the conversation away from herself. "Here you are coaching me with life advice and I don't even know your middle name."

"Not about me," was Jackson's casual reply. "This is about you, and your soon-to-be thriving blog that puts all the stay-at-home moms to shame."

Pushing back on her elbows, she stretched her leg out in order to nudge him playfully with her foot. "I'm serious," he said, in between his laughs. "I'd read your blog. In my spare time, of course. Or I could always just have one of the interns or residents read me your posts out loud while I'm in the middle of a surgery. Some people listen to music, I'll listen to April Kepner's blog posts."

"Great, so now I'm up to three readers: Lexie on her lunch breaks, my mom, and you via whatever resident you have on your service that day."

"What about Sloan over there?"

April snorted. "Please, like he can read."

The laughs dissolved, April adjusting back to a more comfortable position and drawing her leg back. "Michael," Jackson said, after a moment of silence had passed them over. April glanced at him, slightly puzzled. "You said you didn't know what my middle name was. It's Michael."

She let the name, his full name play in her head a couple of times, gentle smile spreading over her lips. "Mine's Grace."

He shot her a dazzling smile in response, a silent thanks, she presumed. She wasn't quite sure what else it could have been there, dancing in his eyes as he looked at her for just another second longer before they darted away, back out across the pond to people watch.

April turned back to her notebook, flipping to a fresh page. Her pen poised itself right over the top line, pausing only for a moment before her brain sent the signals right down to her hand to start moving.

 _Jackson,_ she wrote.

* * *

 **Happy belated birthday to my precious daughter April Kepner, I tried my best to finish this for your sake. Next chapter will find us somewhere different, where do you think that might be? Let me know in your review, and I promise, updates will be back to much more frequently after this. The end of school is always a headache that occupies too much of my time. I've missed you guys terribly. xo**


End file.
